Walker Hayes: How Viral Success of 'Fancy Like' Was a 'Game Changer' for His Family Dynamic (Exclusive)
etonline.comWalker Hayes. The country singer is reflecting on the viral success of his hit single one year after its release while looking ahead to his next moves. «I've paid a lot of bills,» he jokes of the chart-topping song's explosive success, adding with a laugh: «I'm not in debt anymore, so that's great.
I've been given a platform to continue to release music, which is just such a blessing. That's all I ever wanted, was to just take care of my family.» Hayes, speaking exclusively with ET's Cassie DiLaura at his Nashville home, says the entire experience has been a «game changer» in that it's afforded him to bring his wife and six children along on tour.
He has his eldest daughter -- Lela, 16 — to thank, at least in part, for turning «Fancy Like» into a TikTok phenomenon. Unlike so many curated and fabricated social media moments, «Fancy Like» came together organically as a father simply trying to connect with his daughter. «I wish everybody could understand how pure that video was,» he says. «I didn't really have a TikTok following when we did that, and my daughter and I really bonded.»Hayes says he's always looking for new ways to meet his kids where they're at, diving into something that's of interest to each of them individually.
For Lela, it was creating a TikTok dance while mom Laney — Hayes' high school sweetheart — lent a helping hand on the camera. «We just did two two quick takes of this dance that Lela and I threw together and there was no, you know, my team didn't ask me to do it,» he explains.«Not gonna lie,» he jokes, «Lela, sometimes I'm like, 'Hey, keep it clean, like easy on the pelvic thrusts!' You know, like, 'This is for kids and their families!'» For his new single, «Y'all Life,» Hayes' whole family gets in.
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