TikTok users discovered why Beyoncé's new single “Texas Hold Em” sounds so familiar.
Almost immediately after the 42-year-old superstar released her country hit, social media users began comparing it to the theme song of the popular Canadian animated series Franklin, which aired from 1998 to 2004.
After viewing numerous tune comparison posts on the platform, Bruce Cockburn, who composed the Franklin theme song, joined the discussion.
“I think Beyoncé's Texas Hold'Em is a good record. “Unfortunately, I can’t claim that I was involved in the writing,” he told People.
TikTok users discovered why Beyoncé's new single “Texas Hold Em” sounds so familiar
The singer-songwriter, whose song styles range from folk to jazz-rock, continued: “The rhythm is similar to my theme song for the Franklin TV series, but to my ears the similarity ends there.”
“Texas Hold 'Em is her song and I wish her much success with it!” he concluded.
Last week, Beyoncé became the first black woman to top the Hot Country Songs chart with Texas Hold 'Em.
Her achievement comes after her two new country songs received praise from some of the genre's top artists, including Maren Morris and Lainey Wilson, who warmly welcomed the Grammy winner to the country music community this month.
Texas Hold 'Em, released on February 11 and aired on country radio just two days later, knocked Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves' duet “I Remember Everything” from the top spot it had held for 20 weeks.
The mother of three's other country track, 16 Carriages, released on the same day as Texas Hold 'Em, debuted at No. 9.
Both of the mother of three's songs were announced in a Verizon commercial that aired during CBS' broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII.
Rapper Jay-Z's wife will release a full-length country album titled Act II on March 29 as the follow-up to her 2022 Renaissance LP.
Almost immediately after the 42-year-old superstar released her country hit, social media users began comparing it to the theme song of the popular Canadian animated series Franklin, which aired from 1998 to 2004
After viewing numerous tune comparison posts on the platform, Bruce Cockburn, who composed the Franklin theme song, joined the discussion
According to Billboard, Texas Hold 'Em “recorded 19.2 million official streams and 4.8 million airplay viewers across all formats, selling 39,000 copies in the U.S. as of February 15.”
Meanwhile, the outlet added that 16 Carriages attracted “10.3 million streams, 90,000 radio reach and 14,000 copies sold.”
She is currently the first and only woman to lead both hot country songs and hot R&B/hip-hop songs.
The artist's latest achievement comes after her fans forced a country radio station to play Texas Hold 'Em after it initially refused.
Earlier this month, a Twitter user under the pseudonym @jussatto said that Ada, Oklahoma-based country music station KYKC rejected their request to play their new single Texas Hold 'Em.
“I requested Texas Hold'Em on my local country radio station (KYKC) and after requesting, received an email from the radio station stating, “We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station,” the user said on social media, along with a screenshot of the response he received from the radio station.
“I think Beyoncé's Texas Hold'Em is a good record. “Unfortunately, I can’t claim that I had a hand in writing it,” he told People (as seen in 2012).
The singer-songwriter, whose song styles range from folk to jazz-rock, continued: “The rhythm is similar to my theme song for the Franklin TV series, but to my ears the similarity ends there.”
Last week, Beyoncé became the first black woman to top the Hot Country Songs chart with Texas Hold 'Em
The user added: “This channel needs to be held accountable for its blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé.”
The user added: “This channel needs to be held accountable for its blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé.”
The posts drew numerous reactions from Beyoncé fans upset about the alleged exclusion.
The Twitter user then told TMZ that their first request to the station was, “Please play the new song 'Texas Hold 'Em' by Beyoncé.” They believed that the station should have known that Beyoncé was in the country would release new music genre.
A rep for the station told TMZ last Tuesday that the reason they didn't play the songs “Texas Hold 'Em” and “16 Carriages” was because they weren't made available to them. Another local station, KECO, confirmed to the station that it had not been sent copies of the songs.
According to TMZ, station KYKC ultimately received copies of the titles and began playing Texas Hold'Em on Tuesday.
At the time, the company tweeted a screenshot of its playlist and confirmed that the single was now in rotation: “Lots of calls coming in for Beyoncé's Texas Hold 'Em. “It's coming in a few minutes.”
Act II is Beyonce's eighth studio album.