If you've ventured outside as of late, especially in Nashville, you've no doubt heard Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" blaring from someone's car and/or crackling from the radio at your local dive. In short, the song's a hit.
As of this writing, in fact, the song is not merely a hit but is the kind of smash—a Billboard Hot 100 top 10 one, that is—that could ensure a very long career for the Virginia-born artist who recently appeared on Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter album.
The latest chart update for the week of May 11 sees the J-Kwon-interpolating track hitting a new high of No. 3 on the chart, marking a rise of 24 positions in just one week. All told, the song, initially pushed as a single from Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going in April, has spent three weeks on the chart as of this writing. Meanwhile, on the genre-specific Hot Country Songs chart, where Beyoncé's "Texas Hold ‘Em" recently made history with its own No. 1 debut, "A Bar Song" is currently in the top spot and has been for two weeks.
For those wondering, these are the credits; as you’ll see, J-Kwon, born Jerrell Jones, is indeed credited as a writer on Shaboozey’s warm weather gem:
Written by:
Chibueze Collins Obinna (Shaboozey), Jerrell Jones (J-Kwon), Joe Kent, Mark Williams, Nevin Sastry, Sean Cook
Produced by:
Sean Cook, Nevin Sastry
With "A Bar Song," Shaboozey taps into the undeniable catchiness of a key moment from J-Kwon’s verses ("One, here comes the two to the three to the four") and tweaks the main hook ("Everybody in this bitch gettin’ tipsy" in the dirty version, "Everybody in the club gettin’ tipsy" in the clean) to set this story in the more Nashvillian scene of a bar.
Someone pour me up a double shot of whiskey
They know me and Jack Daniel's got a history
Therе's a party downtown, near 5th Street
Everybody at the bar gеttin' tipsy
Everybody at the bar gettin' tipsy
Everybody at the bar gettin' tipsy
J-Kwon's "Tipsy" was itself a Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit back in 2004, ultimately peaking at No. 2. Two years later, the Hood Hop single was certified Gold (i.e. 500,000 units) by the RIAA. In the years since, Kwon has found himself the subject of everything from false reports of being missing to a very public Ye shoutout.
But, why now? Why tap into the hooky minimalism of a hit from 2004? Better yet, how is it possible that this works so damn well, resulting in a decidedly 2024-sounding song that’s arguably just as undeniable as the one it’s interpolating? A key aspect of all this, of course, is the cyclical nature of culture combined with the proven power of subtle nostalgia. Shaboozey himself pointed to the 2000s' impact when rolling out "A Bar Song," which is not the only hit in recent memory to take inspiration from an era that can currently be seen all over every medium of pop culture.
"Early 2000s hip-hop and R&B were such a huge part of my childhood and I had been wanting to flip one for a while into a country song, so we did it with Tipsy," Shaboozey said in an emailed statement in April. "I love how it turned out because it’s a true blend of genres I love. It’s a song that I wanted people to hear and just wanna have fun and party!"
Next for Shaboozey is a run of headlining shows including stops in Los Angeles, New York, and (of course) Nashville. He's also been teasing a remix to "A Bar Song," earlier this month asking fans who he should enlist for the revisiting of his first No. 1 hit.
