Dear Gossips,   

CR Fashion Book announced last night that it would be releasing the first of nine new covers starting today, and posted a tease:

 

We all know that silhouette. For me, though, it’s always the hands. I can always tell by Beyoncé’s hands that it’s her, even if I can’t see the tattoos, but in this case, the tats are there, and of course, it is indeed the Queen: 

 

It’s the last day of February, a month Beyoncé has owned and this domination will continue for the foreseeable future because she has the current #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, become the first Black female artist to top the chart with a country track, and it’s still huge this week. 

 

What’s so impressive about the song is where it’s performing – mainstream, adult contemporary, country, R&B which means that “Texas Hold ‘Em” is defying narrow genre categorisation, SHE defies narrow genre categorisation. And she is making a bigger point through her music: that Black music has always been country music, but not just country music. Black music is also pop and dance and rock and jazz and R&B and more. 

 

Her defiance, however, is not meant to divide. Rather, in breaking down the borders that separate musical genres from each other, Beyoncé, through music, is bringing people together. Here’s a TikTok that’s gone super viral that illuminates this achievement: 

@gardinerbrothers

Beyoncé 🤝 Irish dancing #beyonce #countrymusic

♬ TEXAS HOLD 'EM - Beyoncé

That’s the Gardiner Brothers Irish dancing to “Texas Hold ‘Em” in a video that’s now been viewed over 22 million times. 

 

From Irish Texas to Austin, Texas which is where Olivia Rodrigo played last night. And she paid tribute to the Queen:

@livbedumb

austin tonight!!! luv u texas 🤪🤪🤪

♬ TEXAS HOLD 'EM - Beyoncé
 

And from backstage to the farm, that’s where we find Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, singing “Texas Hold ‘Em” to their animals: 

Scroll through some of those comments though if you want a laugh – because these gatekeepers are still presssssed about Beyoncé’s country music reclamation. And we’re still exactly a month away from the full album drop. March 29, get ready for a full meltdown!

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey