"Texas Hold 'Em" is the co-lead single, alongside "
16 Carriages," from Beyoncé's eighth studio album,
Cowboy Carter. The two songs were surprise released on February 11, 2024, the night of the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. Beyoncé starred in a Verizon commercial during the game where she hinted at the release.
"Texas Hold 'Em" kicks off the party with a twangy beat and playful swagger, inviting us to two-step the night away. Beyoncé, a Houston native herself, infuses the song with nods to her Southern roots, peppering the chorus with mentions of "real-live hoedowns," heatwaves, and even a tornado.
Texas Hold 'Em is one of the most popular variants of the card game poker. The track uses the titular poker game as a playful metaphor for a blossoming romance. With a cheeky wink, Beyoncé sings, "So lay your cards down, down, down, down," urging her potential love interest to reveal their intentions. Ditch the fancy rides ("Get out your Lexus") and stick around, she whispers, before declaring, "I'd be damned if I can't slow dance with you."
Beyoncé wrote "Texas Hold 'Em" with three Canadians: Lowell, Megan Bülow and Nathan Ferraro.
Elizabeth Lowell Boland has also collaborated with Madison Beer and Hailee Steinfeld. German-Canadian pop singer Megan Bülow won the 2019 Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist Of The Year. Nathan Ferraro was in an alt-rock band called The Midway State that had some success in Canada in the late 2000s. He has written for Carly Rae Jepsen and Jessie Reyez, and had a modest international hit with Bülow with "Not A Love Song."
In 2022, Lowell, Megan Bülow and Nathan Ferraro joined forces to form a songwriting trio. Their collaborative efforts gained momentum when they contributed to Charli XCX's Crash track "Yuck."
Beyoncé and Nathan Ferraro co-produced "Texas Hold 'Em" with Killah B (Tinashe's "Touch & Go," Ariana Grande's "
Positions"). Their production combines elements of country music with Beyoncé's signature style.
Beyoncé has dabbled in country music before. "
Daddy Lessons" was a track from her 2016 album
Lemonade, and Bey later recorded a remix featuring the country music band The Chicks.
The musicians are:
Raphael Saadiq: organ, drums, bass
Killa B: drums, piano
Nathan Ferraro: piano, bass
Hit-Boy: synthesizer
Rhiannon Giddens: viola, banjo
Khirye Tyler: bass, piano
Rhiannon Giddens gained prominence as a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an old-time string band. She is a virtuoso on the banjo, an instrument deeply rooted in American folk and bluegrass traditions. Giddens also plays the viola, a string instrument with a rich, warm sound that adds depth to compositions. Like Beyoncé, Rhiannon celebrates her Americana roots through her music and has long advocated for the reclamation of country music instruments by Black musicians.
Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records promoted "Texas Hold 'Em" to country radio. The song became Beyoncé's first entry on Billboard's Country Airplay chart when it debuted at #54 on the survey dated February 24, 2024.
When "Texas Hold 'Em" debuted atop the Country chart, Beyoncé became the first black woman to reach #1 on that tally. She also became the first female artist with #1 songs on seven different Billboard songs charts.
"Texas Hold 'Em" lassoed itself to the top of the UK Official Singles Chart in its second week on the tally. It became Beyoncé's sixth UK #1 single and her first since March 2010 when she featured on Lady Gaga's "
Telephone." Prior to that, her last solo chart-topper came with 2008's "
If I Were a Boy."
It was the first country-influenced song to hit #1 in the UK since Lil Nas X's "
Old Town Road" in 2019.
"Texas Hold 'Em" climbed to #1 on the Hot 100 a week after it debuted at #2. It became Beyoncé's seventh chart-topper as a solo artist and her 13th in total (including four as a member of Destiny's Child).
"Texas Hold Em" sparked a playful conversation among Beyoncé's Canadian fans. Many noticed a similarity between the song's opening melody and
the theme song from the popular children's cartoon
Franklin, which aired in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
This resemblance became a source of lighthearted amusement on TikTok, with numerous side-by-side videos highlighting the similarity.
"I think Beyoncé's 'Texas Hold 'Em' is a good record. Unfortunately, I can't claim to have any part in writing it,"
Bruce Cockburn, who wrote and performed the Franklin theme song, told TMZ. "The rhythmic feel is similar to my theme song for the Franklin TV series, but to my ears, that's where the similarity stops. 'Texas Hold 'Em' is her song, and I wish her success with it!"
Beyoncé dropped a new version of the song on April 4, 2024 titled
"Texas Hold 'Em (Pony Up) Remix". This fresh take on the track injects some high-energy New Orleans bounce production, complete with a brand new verse, additional vocals, and a harder-hitting rhythm section incorporating electronic drums and samples.
In the UK, Beyoncé lassoed herself a whole heap of history with Cowboy Carter. Her twangy masterpiece debuted at #1 on the UK Albums chart, making her the first Black artist ever to take a country album all the way to the top.
And in the week following the release of Cowboy Carter, "Texas Hold 'Em" returned to the top of the UK Official Singles chart for a fifth non-consecutive week. This made Beyoncé the first artist ever to score a UK chart double with a country album AND a country single at the same time.
"Texas Hold 'Em" spent 10 weeks at #1 on the Country chart until it was dethroned by Shaboozey's "
A Bar Song (Tipsy)." It was the first time one Black artist had replaced another Black artist at the country summit.
Beyoncé brought the heat to Houston when she played the halftime show of the 2024 Christmas Day game between the Ravens and Texans. In her 13-minute set, she performed her Cowboy Carter songs for the first time, accompanied by many of the guests who appeared on the album (including Shaboozey and Post Malone) and a full marching band that came out in force for "Texas Hold 'Em" along with her 12-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, who did some line dancing with her mom. The production was near the level of a Super Bowl halftime show like the one Beyoncé headlined in 2013. She also invigorated the 2016 show with her guest spot during Coldplay's set.
"Texas Hold 'Em" lost the Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year Grammy Awards to Kendrick Lamar's "
Not Like Us," but
Cowboy Carter won Album Of The Year and Best Country Album.
"I think sometimes 'genre' is a code word to keep us in our place as artists and I just want to encourage people to do what they're passionate about and stay persistent," Beyoncé said after winning Best Country Album.
