After facing backlash online, a US country music radio station that had initially rejected a listener’s request for Beyoncé’s music has now decided to include the artist’s new songs in their playlist.
A fan of Beyoncé reached out to the station on Tuesday to ask for her song “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which was released as a surprise during the Super Bowl. This event also marked the announcement of the second album in her Renaissance trilogy, making her a 32-time Grammy winner.
Roger Harris, the general manager of Oklahoma’s KYKC, responded to the request by sending an email on behalf of the station. In the email, Harris stated that Beyoncé is not played on KYKC because it is a country music station.
The user shared a picture of the response on X (formerly known as Twitter), accusing the station of obvious racism and bias. The post also encouraged others to email the radio station and request the song.
The post quickly became popular among Beyoncé’s fans, known as the Beyhive. One of the users who shared the tweet, which has received over 3.5 million views, was @BeyLegion, a fan account with nearly 500,000 followers.
Beyoncé’s latest songs, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages”, have been recognized as country tracks, indicating a shift towards a western sound in her upcoming album. This deviates from the dance and house styles of her first installment, Renaissance, released in 2022.
The Houston-born singer croons about hoedowns, dive bars, and strong whiskey while accompanied by the twang of a banjo played by folk artist Rhiannon Giddens in her song “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
Harris informed the New York Times that numerous emails and phone calls were received by the station, all requesting for Texas Hold ‘Em. He shared, “In all my years in this profession, I’ve never encountered such a overwhelming amount of support for a song through our communications.”
South Central Oklahoma Radio Enterprises (Score), the station’s parent company, told Entertainment Weekly that Harris was simply “removed and didn’t know otherwise” that Beyoncé had released country music.
Harris told EW that, thus far, the artist has not been classified as a “country artist.” Therefore, they replied to the email as they would have if someone had requested a Rolling Stones song on their country station.
According to him, the station did not possess the song file when it was asked for, but has now located it along with the file for 16 Carriages.
After four hours of the online campaign beginning, the station posted a photo on Twitter of a digital schedule indicating that Texas Hold ‘Em was now included in its playlist.
“We are receiving a lot of calls,” KYKC stated. “It will be occurring in a few minutes.”
In the past, there has been controversy surrounding the definition and boundaries of country music.
In 2019, there was a well-known incident involving rapper Lil Nas X and his viral song “Old Town Road,” which combines elements of country and trap music. The song was taken off of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart despite its success in reaching the top spot.
Despite its use of banjo and lyrics about horseback riding, chart compilers disputed that it was country enough.
According to Billboard, even though Old Town Road includes country and cowboy themes, it lacks enough elements of modern country music to be successful in its current form.
In 2016, the Recording Academy’s country music committee rejected Beyoncé’s heavily country-influenced song Daddy Lessons, causing it to be ineligible for any country Grammy awards.
At the Country Music Association awards, she surprised the audience by performing the song alongside the Dixie Chicks. This sparked further discussion about the political and undefined nature of country music.
Source: theguardian.com
