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Walker Hayes’ Viral ‘Fancy Like’ Song Skyrockets Into the Top 5 on Billboard’s Hot 100

The lyrics to Fancy Like really get into your head, don’t they? It’s why a song that had its genesis on TikTok blew up the Billboard Hot 100.

As of this week, Fancy Like, the song written and performed by Walker Hayes, is No. 5 on the Billboard chart that ranks all songs, regardless of genre. And to think, it had the most non-traditional of country starts.

It seems the whole country is specifically singing and dancing about an ironic date night at “bougie” Applebees’s. Here’s a toast to the lyrics — the words are an ear-worm kind of clever.

“Yeah, we fancy like Applebee’s, on a date night. Got that Bourbon Street steak with the Oreo shake, get some whipped cream on the top too. Two straws, one check, girl, I got you.
Bougie like Natty in the styrofoam, Squeak-squeakin’ in the truck bed all the way home.
Some Alabama-jamma, she my Dixieland delight, Ayy, that’s how we do, how we do, fancy like, oh.”

Applebee’s actually is the second chain restaurant name-dropped in Fancy Like. On more mundane days, the guy in the song brings his lady friend to Wendy’s.

Hayes sings: “Take her to Wendy’s. Can’t keep her off me. She wanna dip me like them fries in her Frosty.”

You see, in Fancy Like, Applebee’s is the upgrade in eating when the guy gets his paycheck. The song is in its eighth straight week on the Billboard country charts. It’s the second-longest run of the year after Luke Combs and Forever After All.

Hayes is a 41-year-old father of six. He’s been singing country music for years. But it wasn’t until he wrote the song and performed it with his 15-year-old daughter, Lela, that he enjoyed such solid success. He has TikTok, the social media platform so popular with kids, to thank.

Fancy Like continued its organic success story when it jumped to Spotify, where it amassed more than 50 million plays. And then it hit the big time when Applebee’s had the novel idea of using it in a national commercial. And the commercial includes other people dancing to the song on TikTok.

“I’ve been in Nashville for 17 years, and in the last 12 weeks my life has completely changed,” Hayes told the Los Angeles Times. “The word to describe it is ‘surreal.’”

Fancy Like is more than just a song craze. It also inspired a dance. It’s gone so mainstream that even actress Amy Adams learned how to do a Fancy Like dance, much to the chagrin of her pre-teen daughter. Adams talked about her dancing during an interview with late-night host Seth Meyers.

“I had been dancing for a film that we’ll talk about later, but It thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to get into this TikTok thing, which is mortifying for her,” Adams said of her daughter. “The only TikTok dance that I have even partially learned is from the Applebee’s commercial.”

Adams then demonstrated her moves on national TV. Truly, everyone wants to be Fancy Like.

https://youtu.be/0D7hawTDmJk