Beyoncé has broken a record with her new single "Texas Hold 'Em."
Beyonce knows how to entertain a crowd.
Beyoncé is making Billboard history with her latest song "Texas Hold 'Em."
The new country song topped Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart this week. Her No. 1 on the chart makes her the first Black woman artist to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, and first woman to top both the Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts since the genre chart lists began in 1958, according to Billboard.
The only other artists to have ever topped both charts are Morgan Wallen, Justin Bieber, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Ray Charles, Billboard notes.
"Texas Hold 'Em" wasn't the only Beyoncé song to land a spot on the country chart with "16 Carriages" debuting at No. 9. “Texas Hold 'Em” is an up-tempo country and Western stomp, while "16 Carriages” is a soulful slow-burn with ascendant organs and steel guitar.
Beyoncé isn't the first woman of color in the country genre, as artists like Mickey Guyton and Brittney Spencer have seen success in recent years, according to Rolling Stone. In terms of charting history however, country still remains predominantly male and white.
Just last year, Luke Combs' cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" made history by marking the first time a song solo written by a Black woman has topped Billboard's Country Airplay chart since the ranking was first put out in 1990.
Chapman also became the first Black songwriter to win a CMA Award for song of the year.
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Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bullseye, Jessie, Atlas, Smarty Pants, and Snappy in Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5.
For fans of Pixar, the idea that it’s been over 30 years since the original Toy Story came out is a little mind-boggling. While the animation studio has had varying degrees of success with their other properties, they’ve always managed to make something special with each installment of their signature franchise. They’re now rolling the dice yet again with Toy Story 5.
The story is mainly focused on cowgirl toy Jessie (Joan Cusack), who — along with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Forky (Tony Hale), and others — is concerned that new owner Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is falling prey to the scourge of technology in the form of the tablet Lilypad (Greta Lee). They’re worried that the “friends” she makes through games online pale in comparison to those she could play with in person.
Woody (Tom Hanks) and Bo Peep (Annie Potts), living an on-the-go lifestyle but still in touch with the main group, come to help when Jessie goes missing while trying to help Bonnie. And — just because — a large group of new-and-improved Buzz Lightyears that have fallen out of a shipping container that has crashed on an island go on a mission that puts them on course to meet up with everyone else.
Written and directed by McKenna Harris and Andrew Stanton, the film is a mixed bag, mostly because of the disjointed nature of the story. When the group was separated in previous films, things rarely felt out of sync as everybody was still heading toward the same goal. But the different factions in this film seem to be after something different, especially the wholly superfluous addition of the fancy Buzz Lightyears, whose ultimate purpose doesn’t live up to the time dedicated to them.
There’s no way around it: While Jessie is a good character and has a lot of great moments in this film, the relationship aspect of the series is not as strong this time around. She mostly spends time with her mute horse Bullseye, but even when she interacts with new characters like Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien), that ineffable magic is not there. Woody and Buzz have scenes together, but since they’re secondary to the main story, they don’t add as much to this film as they have in others.
However, even if the film can’t live up to the first four movies, it still makes for a fun time. The storyline about technology turning kids (and adults, for that matter) into zombies is a strong one, and the way they incorporate different devices is clever. The large number of characters is unwieldy, but when the filmmakers truly dig down to the personal lives of certain toys or humans, the film is as effective as Pixar has ever been.
Cusack, Hanks, Allen, and other returning voices are so attuned to their respective characters that you know they’ll deliver each line perfectly. People like Lee, O’Brien, and Craig Robinson are welcome additions to the group, but it’s tough to get used to new voices taking over for actors who’ve passed like Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, and Carl Weathers.
The pitch-perfect ending of Toy Story 3 made the idea of Pixar making Toy Story 4 seem strange, but then that film proved the studio knew what it was doing. While Toy Story 5 is not a disaster, it’s not to the standard set by the previous films. It should finally be time to put the franchise to bed, knowing that the toys have given all the joy they can give.
