Two years after "Fancy Like" forever changed the lives of Walker Hayes and his family of eight, he dusted the song off, decorated it with a fuse-blowing count of gaudy blinking lights and renamed it "Fancy Like Christmas."
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Beyond adding sleigh bells to the mix, Hayes wrote new lyrics that are as light-hearted as the original ones. He name-drops such Christmas celebrities as Santa Claus and Mariah Carey, weaves in some shameless Applebee's product placement, makes "blowups in the front yard" the new measuring stick of "boujee" living and rhymes "Go Jesus, it's your birthday" with fruitcake.
"Yeah, we fancy like Christmas round a fake tree/ Nutcracker on the mantle/ And a candy cane candle," the lyrics go. "Get your eggnog, with your fruit cake/ Go Jesus, it's your birthday/ Bougie like blowups in the front yard/ Hopin' Santa gonna leave an Applebees's gift card/ In my stocking even though we getting naughty all night/ That's how we do, how we do, fancy like Christmas."
Like the original, it's silly on purpose without that overshadowing Hayes' sincerity.
"Fancy Like" became a crossover hit in 2021, in large part because of a TikTok dance performed by Hayes and one of his daughters, Lela. The song rejuvenated Hayes' career en route to reaching the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and climbing to No. 3 on the all-genre Hot 100. It's since achieved platinum status and earned Hayes an unlikely Grammy nomination (Best Country Song, 2021).
Though the original "Fancy Like" built an invaluable platform for Hayes to share his faith and encourage others who've battled alcoholism, he clearly isn't above being the one to give it the Weird Al treatment. If there's one legitimate gripe, it's that this should've reached our ears a Christmas or two sooner— back when the viral hit and its TikTok dance were more of the moment.
