It is not every day that a song by Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter opens with a banjo. And that explains, in part, why her latest single, Texas Hold ‘Em, is proving to be such a hit — and is literally causing quiet some heat online — for if there ever was an outlier performance, this year’s must be Beyonce topping the Hot Country Songs chats.
What is more, the song, which she released in February, has hit TikTok like a storm, with various content creators, including toothless American countryside mums, throwing their best foot backwards, so to speak, as they dance to the hit single.
This ain’t Texas (Woo!)
Ain’t no holding them (Hey!)
So lay your cards (Down, down down)
Those are the opening lyrics in the latest hit, which is set to launch Beyonce into the realms of country. While it may come as a surprise for some of her fans, it is worth noting that the R&B singer has been working on a country Long Playing (LP) record to be known as ‘Renaissance Act II’. And as country icon Dolly Parton revealed in early March, the LP could include a cover of Jolene, the evergreen number that Parton released in 1974, and which topped country chats for years. That would be something worth looking forward to now.
Beyonce has been a phenomenon in both music and film. In 2004, for instance, she won five Grammy Awards, including best contemporary R&B album and best female R&B vocal performance. These cemented her credentials as an R&B artiste before she ventured into acting and now, re-inventing herself as a country music singer.
When she released Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), she raised quite a storm in the social world, with claims that she recorded it after secretly marrying Rapper Jay-Z. Suffice it to say that it spoke to the hearts of many women across the globe and ultimately contributed to Beyoncé dominating the 2010 Grammies, when she took home six awards, including for song of the year and best contemporary R&B album, thus making history on that night.
Six years on, she is still making history. She performed her hit, Lemonade, during a super bowl break, and ended up breaking the Internet. The upbeat urban song bagged her yet another Grammy later that year. She holds more Grammies than any other female singer in history. That Beyonce has now gone country.
According to Wikipedia, Texas Hold ‘Em is “celebration of the Black roots of country music”. Indeed, one can discern hints of Mississippi in its instrumental arrangements but it also has a tempo that makes it contemporary too.
Now we are running
To the first bar that we find yeah (Wooo)
One step to the right
We are heading to the Dive Bar…
Like all quintessential country songs — from Chris Stipleton and Brad Paisely to Toby Keith — Beyonce’s number would be incomplete without its celebration of whiskey and the bar. A connoisseur will, for sure, appreciate its inter-textuality with J.R. Moehringer’s memoir, Tender Bar, itself a toast to the iconic beverage and the theatres where it is routinely credited for birth both drama and melodrama.
For now, This Ain’t Texas is causing both on TikTok. Check it out.
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