Pink Pony Club

Chappell Roan was inspired to write "Pink Pony Club" after visiting the Abbey, a gay bar in West Hollywood, California, in 2018. Roan, who had recently moved from her hometown of Springfield, Missouri, stated that visiting the bar was "the first time I could truly be myself and not be judged". At the bar, she became enthralled with the performing go-go dancers, stating that seeing them "sparked [something] in me... I want[ed] to be a go-go dancer. So I just wrote a song about it." According to Roan, she had previously struggled with accepting herself in Springfield, stating in Headliner, "I always had such a hard time being myself and felt like I'd be judged for being different or being creative", adding that the bar was "something that I couldn't really have experienced here in Missouri... It was completely eye opening and changed my direction from that point on." "Pink Pony Club" has been described as a pop, synth-pop, dance-pop, power pop, disco-pop and disco The woman's mother disapproves upon hearing the news, saying to her daughter, "God, what have you done?" == Production and release ==

Roan wrote "Pink Pony Club" with Dan Nigro within two days in February 2019, and recorded it in the same year. Initially, the label tried to dissuade her from releasing the song as they thought it deviated too much from Roan's past songs, leaving Roan "devastated" and making her "second-guess herself". According to Roan, Atlantic Records refused to release the song for a year before they relented. "Pink Pony Club" was later included on Roan's debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, released on September 22, 2023, through Amusement and Island Records. Music video The song's music video, directed by Griffin Stoddard with cinematography by Oren Soffer, was released on April 3, 2020. Roan, who was visibly nervous in the video, stated that she was "absolutely terrified" of her performance during production. == Critical reception ==

Although "Pink Pony Club" did not receive much critical attention upon release, it has received consistent positive reception in the following years. Vulture Rebecca Alter praised the song in 2021, describing it as a "synthy infectious bangarang... It's a stripper anthem that squeezes itself in perfectly with the likes of 'WAP' and 'Twerkulator,' just with a little bit more of a drama-kid kick." In a review of the song's parent album, Pitchfork Olivia Horn proclaimed "Pink Pony Club" to be a "bold and uproarious pop project stitched with stories about discovering love, sex, and oneself in a new place." Both Kitty Empire of The Guardian and Mark Savage of BBC News credited the song as Roan's first career hit, with both describing it as a liberating queer party anthem. Paste Eric Bennett deemed "Pink Pony Club" an "immediately memorable artistic statement" and praised its chorus. Reflecting on the song's later success, after the label's initial negative response and the song's commercial underperformance, Roan remarked, "it's like damn bitch, were you wrong? It was the worst time ever to release a gay club song [around the pandemic]. And it still had such an impact." == Live performances ==

Amidst her rise in popularity, Roan performed "Pink Pony Club" at various festivals and shows. In 2024, she performed it as the closing song at major U.S. music festivals, including the Boston Calling Music Festival, the Capitol Hill Block Party, the Hinterland Music Festival, Outside Lands, Lollapalooza, and the Austin City Limits Music Festival. She also performed the song at the Canadian Osheaga Festival. Roan played "Pink Pony Club" for a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music on March 21, 2024. On November 2, 2024, she performed the song during an appearance on Saturday Night Live. On February 2, 2025, Roan performed the track at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, where she also won Best New Artist. On March 3, 2025, she performed "Pink Pony Club" as a duet with Elton John at his Oscars viewing party for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. == Commercial performance ==

"Pink Pony Club" achieved commercial success five years after its initial release following the Grammy performance. It reached number 16 on the Billboard Global 200 chart dated February 22, 2025. before peaking at number four on the chart dated April 26, 2025. The song entered the top ten at number four during its 13th non-consecutive week on the chart for the week ending February 20, 2025. Three weeks later, after Roan won two awards at the 2025 Brit Awards, "Pink Pony Club" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending date March 13, 2025, becoming her first chart-topping song in the United Kingdom. "Pink Pony Club" also reached the top 30 in Australia (2), Canada (2), Ireland (2), New Zealand (11), Lebanon (12), Slovakia (19), Austria (26), Iceland (26), and the Philippines (26). "Pink Pony Club" was certified five-times platinum in the United States, four-times platinum in Australia, triple platinum in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, platinum in Canada and France, and gold in Spain. == Other versions ==

Avril Lavigne performed a mashup of "Pink Pony Club" and her song "We Are Warriors" (2020) on the North American leg of her Greatest Hits Tour (2024–2025). Rick Astley also posted an acoustic cover version of the song to YouTube on March 3, 2025. Moon Taxi released a cover of the song as their latest single in June 2025. GWAR performed a metal cover of the song which was released on The A.V. Club's YouTube channel on January, 15th 2026. Gwar have also added the song to their live concerts for a 2026 tour. ==Charts==

Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==