A country music radio station in the US initially declined a listener’s request for a Beyoncé song but later included the artist’s new tracks in its playlist following widespread backlash online.
The incident occurred when a Beyoncé fan reached out to the station on Tuesday to request her song “Texas Hold ‘Em” – one of two tracks released unexpectedly during the Super Bowl, where the 32-time Grammy winner also revealed the second album in her Renaissance trilogy.
The station, Oklahoma’s KYKC, initially declined the request for a Beyoncé song, with the general manager, Roger Harris, explaining in an email that they do not play her music as they are a country music station.
Following this response, the fan shared a screenshot of the email on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, accusing the station of “blatant racism and discrimination.” The post urged others to email the radio station to request the song.
The tweet quickly gained traction within Beyoncé’s fanbase, known as the Beyhive. Influential accounts like @BeyLegion, boasting nearly half a million followers, shared the post, which has now garnered over 3.5 million views.
Notably, both of Beyoncé’s new singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” have been widely recognized as country tracks, hinting at a western influence on her upcoming album. This departure from the dance and house traditions of the first installment of the Renaissance trilogy in 2022 has caught attention.
In “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Beyoncé, hailing from Houston, Texas, croons about hoedowns, dive bars, and “rugged whiskey,” accompanied by the twang of a banjo played by folk artist Rhiannon Giddens.
According to Harris, the general manager, the station was inundated with hundreds of emails and phone calls requesting “Texas Hold ‘Em.” He expressed astonishment, stating to the New York Times, “I’ve never experienced anything in my career like the amount of communication that we received in support of the song.”
South Central Oklahoma Radio Enterprises (Score), the parent company of the station, clarified to Entertainment Weekly that Harris was unaware of Beyoncé’s venture into country music.
“Up until now, she hasn’t been a ‘country artist’,” Harris explained to EW. “So we responded to the email in the same way we would have responded to someone requesting a Rolling Stones song on our country station.”
Initially, the station didn’t have the file for the song requested, but has since located it, along with the file for “16 Carriages.”
After the online campaign gained momentum, the station tweeted a photo of a digital playlist showing that “Texas Hold ’Em” had been added, stating, “Lots of calls coming in. It’s coming up in minutes.”
The definition of country music and its boundaries have sparked debates and controversies in the past.
In a widely discussed incident from 2019, rapper Lil Nas X’s viral country-trap blend “Old Town Road” was removed from Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart despite reaching the top spot.
Billboard argued that the song, despite its banjo instrumentation and lyrical content about horse riding, did not encompass enough elements of contemporary country music to remain on the chart in its original version.
Similarly, in 2016, Beyoncé’s heavily country-influenced track “Daddy Lessons” faced rejection from the Recording Academy’s country music committee, rendering it ineligible for consideration in the country music categories at the Grammys.
However, Beyoncé later performed the song at the Country Music Association Awards alongside the Dixie Chicks in a surprise appearance. This event reignited discussions surrounding politics and ambiguous boundaries within the genre of country music.
