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Country singer Walker Hayes was six years into his sobriety journey when he scored a surprise number-one hit, instantly giving him the biggest platform of his career, while also propping him up on the biggest stage to fall from.
That surprise hit was “Fancy Like,” Hayes’ humdinger of a single that touted the joys of a “Bourbon Street steak” at Applebee’s over a snappy beat and sing-along chorus. Buoyed by a viral TikTok dance and even a remix with Kesha, the single went platinum (for sales of more than one million units) and hit number one on the Billboard country charts. But three years later, Hayes says the resulting whirlwind of “Fancy” was anything but.
“It was the greatest thing that ever happened in…
