Order up! Chappell Roan is serving fans a behind-the-scenes look at her “Hot to Go!” music video in honor of the track’s one-year anniversary, posting footage from the shoot in her hometown of Springfield, Missouri on YouTube Wednesday (Aug. 14).
The clip opens with Roan fielding questions from an over-curious stranger passing by the video shoot, who doesn’t recognize her and repeatedly asks her if she’s in a rock band. “I’m just a singer, nothing crazy,” she tells him, not knowing then just how astronomically her star would rise in the year ahead of her.
The video then shows various footage of Roan traversing past landmarks of her hometown, including a large horse mural, a fork-shaped sculpture and a theater. While at a mini-golf course, the “Good Luck, Babe!” singer says, “Wait, there’s so many people … I’m so embarrassed,” before hardening her resolve: “You know what? It doesn’t matter.”
“In my hometown, I feel so much less stressed,” she adds later on.
The 26-year-old musician also took a moment to thank a few of her costars in the project – drag performers Tina HC, Ether and Preston Schaeffer – for their participation. The “Hot to Go!” video finds Roan teaching them her song’s corresponding dance moves before they all perform the “YMCA”-esque choreography as a group. “I’m very lucky to have queens and trans people a part of this,” says the star, who’s long been open about how drag has inspired her as a performer. “It’s such a big honor.”
Produced by Dan Nigro, “Hot to Go!” was released almost exactly one year ago on Aug. 11, 2023, and its music video dropped that same day. The Jackie! Zhou-directed visual also shows Roan teaching the song’s dance to her grandparents and a group of fans in Springfield, as well as singing and dancing using bleachers, a gas station and monster trucks as backdrops.
Since the release of the song, which preceded Roan’s Billboard 200 top 10 hit album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, it has steadily climbed the Billboard Hot 100 and recently reached a new peak of No. 17. Five other songs from the LP – “Pink Pony Club,” “Red Wine Supernova,” “Casual,” “Femininomenon” and new entry “My Kink Is Karma” – are also on the chart dated Aug. 17, 2024.
Roan honored the song’s one-year anniversary during her Aug. 11 set at Outside Lands by wearing the blue leotard she wears in the music video onstage. She also laid down the law when a group of fans in the festival’s VIP section refused to do the “Hot to Go!” dance with her, scolding: “It’s so weird that VIP thinks they’re so way too cool to do this! You’re not fun! Be fun and try!”
