In a fun and cheeky Verizon Super Bowl commercial, Beyoncé vowed to do one thing. It's about destroying the internet. As the commercial showed, she couldn't do it – at least not in the literal sense. Instead, she did something else after the commercial ended. She hacked the internet and dropped two new songs: “Texas Hold'em” and “16 Carriage.” The former is already becoming a viral dance song on TikTok. Year.
This was always going to happen. Almost everything Beyoncé does, every album, every outfit goes viral. That's why her Verizon commercial didn't seem like a shallow attempt to hype space turf. Additionally, “Texas Hold'em” is a big pop-country crossover track, with its quick banjo riff (by Maestro Rhiannon Giddens) and lyrics about whiskey and bringing it to the floor that line her dance It's perfect. Line dancing, which lends itself to fun imitation and interpretation, naturally also works well on social platforms. It would have been even weirder if it was TikTok. didn't The week after the song was released, there was a flood of new dances. (If you're looking for a video that best represents this trend, check out the chart-topping production from performers Matt McCall and Dexter Mayfield and follow the sound below, below, below.)
But necessity is not the whole reason. “Texas Hold'em” is currently his track behind approximately 134,000 videos totaling millions of views. The song suddenly appeared on TikTok at a time when much music has been muted on the platform following a dispute between TikTok and Universal Music Group.
Back in January, after the two companies failed to reach an agreement on a licensing deal for UMG Music, the record giant announced that it would be releasing songs it owns the rights to, including cuts from artists like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. Deleted from TikTok. This means that videos with music from these artists will now play without sound. Because Beyoncé's music is distributed by UMG's rival Columbia/Sony, “Texas Hold'em” currently ranks No. 5 on TikTok's Viral 50 list. TikTok did not respond to an email requesting comment for this story.
Now, Beyoncé is perched atop the social web like a glowing holographic disco horse. When she announced her new album, second actand dropped “Texas Hold'em” and “16 Carriages,” but the internet is buzzing about what looks like Beyoncé's whole country album, a follow-up to 2016's country-infused “Daddy Lessons.” There was a lot of uproar over the fact that they were producing . lemonade. (“She’s coming to the countryside to leave her genitals!!” I got a reply @BeyLegion X account. “'Dad Lesson' has been reloaded!” went to another place. )
On Tuesday, Beyoncé became the first black woman to debut at the top of “Texas Hold'em.” signboardHot Country Songs Chart. The song has currently been streamed approximately 20 million times.
TikTok sounds don't count signboard But there's no question that viral dances create the kind of hype that leads to song streams, album sales, and radio play. Beyoncé had no control over the TikTok/UMG situation (presumably) and had no way of knowing if the licensing dispute was still going on when new music was released (also likely), but its existence paved the way for her new music This song is one of the biggest things happening in music on the platform right now. In any case, there is no doubt that it has reached these heights, but less competition is not going to stop it from doing so.
