Billy Ray Cyrus Reacts To Shaboozey’s Record Hit ‘Tipsy’

On By Littum

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Billy Ray Cyrus says he’s proud of Shaboozey to make history in the country music landscape and beyond after “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a total of 19 weeks – a feat Cyrus is all too familiar with.

Country music legend and Lil Nas X holds the record for the longest-running No. 1 on the Hot 100 for “Old Town Road (Remix).” The Grammy-winning tune spent 19 consecutive weeks in the top spot in 2019. Recently, Shaboozey’s smash hit the only other song to hit 19 weeks at no. 1 on the hit listalthough they were not consecutive.

Still, this makes the “Cowboy Carter” collaborator’s song the longest-running No. 1 song on the charts by a solo artist. The obvious: Both records are now owned by black artists with country songs.

“I’m so proud of Shaboozey. I’m proud of Empire,” Cyrus says recently entered into a partnership with Empire Publishing, an arm of the label that signed Shaboozey.

Cyrus has not only witnessed the effects of exclusion within the country music establishment, he has been a part of history when black artist Lil Nas X broke barriers in that landscape.

In 2019, Lil Nas X’s viral tune “Old Town Road” was removed from Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. The outlet said the song did not have enough elements of modern country music, raising questions of discrimination. After the controversy, Cyrus remixed the song with Lil Nas X, and the tune immediately took the industry by storm, achieving extreme success, including two Grammy wins for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video. It also won musical event of the year at the Country Music Association Awards.

“I told Lil Nas X the night I met him on Sunset Boulevard when we listened to our mix for the first time together, ‘You’re a light in the world. You gotta shine,'” Cyrus tells USA TODAY Network “And here’s the philosophy. When you’re making your music, think of it like this. Don’t try to fit outside the box. Approach it like there’s no box.”

He says he’s always believed that artists like Lil Nas X and Shaboozey could break out and make history in the genre, and that his music reflects that type of optimism. Take, for example, his duet with music legend Dionne Warwick, “Hope Is Just Ahead,” which was written about the Sandy Hook tragedy.

“In early 1992 — bearing in mind that in ’91 I was living in my car — ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ was No. 1 and the album ‘Some Gave All’ was No. 1, all genres again,” said he. “I don’t want this to come off as bragging, but I’ve enjoyed breaking genres my whole career. It just happens to be the only place I fit in.”

Cryus says his time touring with Charley Pride had a lasting impact on him.

“In 1992 I was suddenly playing in Australia and I was doing shows with Charley Pride. He was one of the first, along with Carl Perkins and Porter Wagoner, who absolutely took me under his wing,” says Cyrus. “He would tell me some of the things he’d been through. One night he made me cry and we laughed about it, but they were just good friends.”

Pride came to mind when Cyrus heard about Lil Nas X.

“I read that this guy is a bit of an underdog because he gets a backlash and non-acceptance of the walls that Charley Pride told me about,” Cyrus says. “And it didn’t just make me a little mad, it inspired me to say, ‘Well, do it for Charley.'”

Cyrus says he was also inspired by music legend Johnny Cash, who once wrote him a letter in 1992 to persevere and help tear down walls.

“I answered every question in my life like, ‘What would Johnny do?’ And when it came to Lil Nas, I think about Johnny’s TV show and how he took the walls down on that show,” says Cyrus. “I said no doubt Johnny would say, ‘what can I do to help?'”

Cyrus has been vocal about her own challenges within the genre. In 2019, he said that his song “Chevys and Fords” was originally rejected by national radio for being “too rural”. And while the hitmaker believes music is in a “very wonderful place where there are no walls”, he admits there’s still a way to go.

“Country music has come a long way. The CMAs proved themselves that they may still have a little more work to do, but that’s OK,” he says. “Like I said about Beyoncé, she didn’t need their approval to tell her she’s done well. Plus she’s going to get plenty of Grammys to make up for it.”

Beyonce received zero nominations for her album “Cowboy Carter” at the CMA Awardsdespite its record-breaking success and influence in highlighting Black country artists and that the roots of the genre. Shaboozey was one of her collaborators, featuring on “Spaghetti“and”Sweet Honey Buckin,'” and his career has since accelerated.

However, the album was nominated for 11 Grammys, including five awards in the country and American roots fields.

The lack of recognition at the CMA Awards was met with criticism from fans, and Cyrus was one of the country music stars who came to her defense.

Before the release of “Cowboy Carter” Beyoncé opened up about creating the project and her struggles within the country music genre, referring to her 2016 CMA Awards performance that was met with a frosty reception.

For Cyrus, it’s all about making music to bring people together, and his single featuring Lil Nas X still seems to resonate with fans years later.

“I just saw the Spotify numbers and I was freaked out that ‘Old Town Road’ still got so many streams,” he says. “It’s amazing. It was my goal to make music that all people could enjoy and touch lives around the world.”

He released his new single “Remember Why You’re Here”, co-written by James Slater, on November 22. The song dropped after he nearly lost his life — multiple times — and just before Thanksgiving weekend, which he spent singing to and communicating with families at a veterans hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

He says he was inspired to create the tune during a trip to Anguilla to build tennis courts for children. He hopes others feel inspired “to give back, to be happy, to love your fellow man and to dream and dream big.”

Follow Caché McClay, USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X like @cachemclay.