A legend paid homage to a future legend when Melissa Etheridge mashed up her classic “I Want To Come Over” with Chappell Roan’s infectious hit “Red Wine Supernova” at a live show at Wolf Trap in Virginia earlier this week. The rock star was a few verses into her 1995 smash off the Your Little Secret album when she paused and switched to Roan’s Billboard Hot 100 song seamlessly connecting decades of music from two iconic lesbian performers.
Related: Melissa Etheridge on being a 'proud mother' to queer artists and the healing power of music
“Baby, why don’t you come over?/ Red wine supernova, falling into me,” Etheridge sang a capella before strumming her guitar and belting the line again. “I want to come over,” she then sang from her song, pointing to the audience in a gesture of recognition. The audience went wild.
Etheridge publicly came out as a lesbian at the Triangle Ball in honor of Bill Clinton’s presidency in 1993. Meanwhile, Roan declared earlier this year while telling a story during a live show, “I hope you’re happy because I’m a lesbian now.” Several songs including “Hot to Go,” “ Femininomenon,” and “Pink Pony Club,” from the pop superstar’s 2023 album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, became ubiquitous, essential tracks of the 2024 summer playlist.
@donnysaxbonkExcuse the poor quality but she was so good i highly recommend seeing her #chappellroan @chappell roan
A gamechanger in the ’90s along with lesbian musicians like k.d. lang and Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, Etheridge told The Advocate in a recent digital cover story, “This is exactly what I hoped for when I came out, when I stepped out and said I was a big lesbian — that an artist can not only come out later after they’ve made it, but can just come onto the scene and be gay from the get-go.”
“That’s one of their many crayons in their crayon box. They’re gay, OK, that thrills me. Do you enjoy the music? Yes. ... The music still stands for itself. I always believed that good music just triumphs all that,” she added. “I feel like a proud mother. Really. I do.”
The “I Wanna Come Over”/“Red Wine Supernova” mash-up is a musical and lyrical fit considering both songs excavate unchecked queer desire. And while Roan continues to be her own supernova, Etheridge has had a banner year releasing the docuseries and live album,Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken. She is currently on a major tour that includes dates with Jewel and the Indigo Girls.
“I’m thinking that might, that might be a lesbian experience that has not really happened before, and we might move the Seismic Needle,” Etheridge said of her tour dates with the Indigo Girls. “I’m not sure if that many lesbians are allowed in one place with other straight people, so that's going to be something. I can't wait.”Watch Etheridge’s full performance below.
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