"Fancy Like" found me like a thief in the night on a recent Sunday. While watching a routine football game on ESPN, a commercial appeared, featuring a whole litany of people doing a TikTok dance to a song about Applebee's by Walker Hayes. They danced on their porches and on their wakeboards. Some wore cowboy hats. Some bridal gowns. They all knew the dance, and they all seemed to endorse fast casual dining. Then it came on again. And again. And again.
On the one hand, I should have expected this. "Fancy Like" sounds engineered to have the rights bought and used in an Applebees' commercial and then coincidentally show up on TikTok as though to prove to the world that in a country as divided as ours, there's one thing we can agree on: overcooked steak. It has that upbeat, Bachelor-nation sound; it comes in at a nice right-of-center 80 BPM. It makes me think of cars that require no money down at signing and paper towels that can handle any mess from these guys [gestures at toddlers]...or this guy [gestures at husband, rolls eyes good-naturedly]. It's a commercial before anyone bought it to be in a commercial.
"Fancy Like" made its big debut in June. Hayes, who has been on the country music scene for years, has never had a bonafide hit. And then TikTok, which seems to be preoccupied with country music lately, adopted the song and made it inescapable. Then Applebee's saw the opportunity to license that bad boy, use the parts that highlight its signature dishes (sorry, Fiesta Lime Chicken), and create a commercial so oppressively sneaky that the single-cum-jingle would never leave your head again. It's worked brilliantly for Hayes; his track has entered the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, passing the likes of Olivia Rodrigo and Lil Nas X on the way there. I should hate all of this.
On the other hand, it really got stuck in my head. Let's give it a listen.
After one million TikToks, countless commercial watches, and the occasional guilt listen, I don't hate "Fancy Like." The song may even be the anthem of our autumn. Well, of someone's autumn. Of Christian Girl Autumn. If this song had an outfit, it would be a large flannel worn over leggings with a messy bun. On the surface, it has all the kitsch and whelm of pop country mediocrity, leaning into the mentions of Bourbon Street Steak and Oreo Shake, products available for purchase at an Applebee's near you. It's not winning any awards for its songwriting prowess, and yet I kind of...like it? Hear me out.
Perhaps "Fancy Like"'s haunting spell has finally cursed me into embracing it. Maybe it's a touch of Stockholm Syndrome after three weeks of hearing it during football Sundays. But I think it might be because the state of pop country has become so abysmal that "Fancy Like" clears the impressively low bar. Would Rose have preferred a lifeboat? Sure. But that door got the job done, just like this single.
Even with its "Natty Light in a styrofoam cup" and "kisses on my lips without the Skoal in them" lines, "Fancy Like" still manages to do what most of pop country isn't doing right now. On one hand, you have the "elites" like Morgan Wallen, who seems to be the genre's main commodity, despite his inability to resist the temptation of the negative spotlight. Then there's the Jimmie Allens, the Jason Aldeans, the Thomas Rhetts, who are still wringing the final drops out of "list-it" country pop. You know the gist: tire swing by a river, long legs, cut off jeans.
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Hell, the wider country audience has gotten so tired of the same old, same old that they've resorted to breathing life into country hits of yesteryear. If you're going to thrive in the modern country landscape, at least give us something that's a bit out of the ordinary. Hayes managed to do it in the oddest of ways—appealing to the most base of our interests and shining a beautiful heat lamp on the guilty pleasure of Applebee's. I know it sounds nuts, but it makes the inclusion of Bourbon Street Steak kind of refreshing. Appealing, even! Though Applebee's must be absolutely beside themselves with viral marketing joy, this is all Hayes and his ability to wriggle his way into our ears.
We can either go into the rest of this coming season with our boot heels in the proverbial sand, or we can succumb to the inevitable. We are going to be listening to "Fancy Like" for months to come, and it will come for you, too. One day in the shower, you'll find yourself humming it, and you'll know that you've been had. Hayes and Applebee's inception worked, and a slight smile will come across your face. You have lost in the most hilarious way.
Now, next up: who wants to workshop my ballad about unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks?
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