Beyoncé has recently gone through changes with her music and become the first black woman to ever have a No. 1 song on the US Billboard Hot 100 Country Chart after previously producing R&B and Hip Hop music.
One of her two new singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em”, released on Feb. 11, gained popularity and streams quickly, which resulted in a quick incline on the country charts.
“Texas Hold ’m’ is made for do-si-doing on a dusty dancefloor, with banjo, line-dancing commands, and exclamations of “woo hoo!”…something much more rootsy and authentically country…with its closely harmonized backing vocals and admirably restrained feel,” Ben Beaumont-Thomas, a reviewer with the Guardian, said.
However, previously, throughout her releases with music in the R&B and Hip Hop genre, she found much success. She has won 32 grammys and was on the Billboard Hot 100 chart 85 times with 22 top 10 hits and nine No. 1 hits.
BEYONCÉ’S BACKGROUND
Born in Houston, Texas, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter expressed her love for dance and music at a young age. All throughout her hometown, she was enrolled in dance classes, attended art classes, sang in talent shows, and immersed herself in the school choir.
Growing from just a passion, her interest in singing transitioned into a real career in 1992, when she and her friends, Kelly Rowland and LaTavia Robinson, created an R&B group, Girl’s Tyme. After numerous additions and subtractions from the group, the three girls and LeToya Luckett eventually became known as Destiny’s Child.
The group has numerous big hits and some of their singles, “Say My Name” released in 1999, “Bills, Bills, Bills” released in 1999, “Independent Women” released in 2000, and “Bootylicious” released in 2001, made it to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Changes concerning the members in Destiny’s Child continued to occur until the band eventually broke up in 2006.
Beyoncé continued on with her musical career alone, simultaneously dropping two successful songs in October of 2008, “If I Were a Boy” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”, that gave her a name in the music industry.
HER NEXT STEP
However, because of her Texan roots, she recently decided to switch up her genre and shift towards country music. She released her two first country singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” on Feb. 11, which took many of her fans by surprise.
“I was really surprised when I heard she released country songs. I used to listen to her old songs a lot so I wasn’t expecting her to switch genres,” junior Susan Thomas said, who has been listening to Beyoncé since she was six.
The popularity of the songs have grown quickly, with “Texas Hold ‘Em” having 19.2 million streams and “16 Carriages” having 10.3 million streams. These two single releases are the start of a full album, Act II, which is scheduled to be released on March 29.
On Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart, “16 Carriages” made it to No. 9 and “Texas Hold ‘Em” took the top spot, which gave Beyoncé the honor of becoming the first biracial woman to have a No. 1 song on the country chart.
Her successful top hit had taken off “I Remember Everything,” by Zach Bryan, featuring Kacey Musgraves, which had been at the top of the country chart since September.
She also makes history because she is the first woman to have songs that made it to No. 1 spot on both the Hot Country Songs Chart and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart. The only others that have accomplished this are Morgan Wallen, Bieber, Billy Ray Cyrus and Ray Charles.
“I’m excited to hear the rest of the album. I really like the two songs she’s released already so I’m guessing the rest of the album will be pretty good,” sophomore Jazmin Villareal said.
Act II, her ninth album, is said to connect and follow her previous album, Renaissance, which was previously titled Act I. She has shared with fans that this is a three-act project, so Act III will follow her previous works.
As the first black woman to hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, it is clear that Beyoncé’s recent accomplishments with her switch to country music provide a step for her music career as well as her plans for her albums in the future.
