Beyoncé, as she does, made history and broke ground yesterday, this time as the first Black female artist to ever have a No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot Country charts, which she did with her new single “Texas Hold ‘Em.” That song, along with “16 Carriages” (which also made its debut on the chart at No. 9) are both on Beyoncé’s forthcoming Renaissance: Act II, out March 29; all of the above were announced at the Super Bowl on February 11.
“Texas Hold ‘Em,” an upbeat line-dance track, shot to No. 1 with 19.2 million streams last week, in addition to 39,000 traditional sales and 4.8 million audience impressions from radio. “16 Carriages” had 10.3 million streams, 14,000 sales, and 90,000 in radio reach, Marie Claire reported.
And, because this is what haters do, the wee little detractors have emerged from their complaint caves to say, “Who does Beyoncé think she is, toppling traditional country music like this?” Well, haters, who is she to not do whatever she wants to do? We’d all be wise to remember it’s Beyoncé’s world, and we’re merely living in it.
Bey has a lot of fans, but perhaps none more staunch and outspoken than her mother, Tina Knowles. Knowles wrote on Instagram defending her eldest daughter, saying that country music doesn’t belong to “white culture only” and “We have always celebrated Cowboy Culture growing up in Texas,” she wrote, per People.
Alongside a reshare of a compilation video of images of Bey’s prior magazine covers and photos of her in traditional “country” attire, Knowles wrote “I just came across this video on my IG feed! We have always celebrated Cowboy Culture growing up in Texas. We also always understood that it was not just about it belonging to White culture only. In Texas there is a huge Black cowboy culture. Why do you think that my kids have integrated it into their fashion and art since the beginning.”
She continued “When people ask why is Beyoncé wearing cowboy hats? It’s really funny, I actually laugh because it’s been there since she was a kid, we went to rodeos every year and my whole family dressed in western fashion. Solange [Knowles, her younger daughter] did a whole brilliant Album and Project based on Black Cowboy Culture. It definitely was a part of our culture growing up.”
As far back as June 2022, Beyoncé said that her Renaissance project would be part of three acts, writing in a since-deleted post on her website that “This three-act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic. A time to be still, but also a time I found to be the most creative. Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration.”
And through that exploration—ground was broken. We love to see it.
