What Is The Song In Applebee's New Fancy Like Commercial?
A lot of things have changed in the last few years. The way we eat isn't quite the same and the way we consume our media has changed, too. We've lived in a pandemic world long enough that people adapted to take-out over dine-in most of the time, and we've sought sustenance in our storytelling more and more from platforms like TikTok. After all, why watch a stressful hour-long drama when you can just watch chill videos of people dancing or skateboarding down the street to "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac?
TikTok has had a pretty massive impact on the music industry in general. Artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Olivia Rodrigo, and Doja Cat all found larger, mainstream success with their songs appearing on TikTok first. Country music was reshaped by TikTok as a result of the smash hit "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X — and, yes, that song was a TikTok meme.
Lil Nas isn't the only person whose country song found a larger audience thanks to TikTok. Walker Hayes created a song in June 2021 that blew up after Hayes posted video of him and his kids dancing to the song. This song just so happens to mention the Oreo Cookie Shake from Applebees's — a dessert which had been discontinued at the franchise restaurant.
Not only is the shake back, but the song is now appearing in an actual Applebee's commercial.
Walker Hayes and "Fancy Like" have people dancing to an Applebee's date night
If you're Applebee's, it's fair to say that part of the business still boils down to getting people into physical restaurants. As people do begin venturing back towards indoor dining, Walker Hayes' song that namedrops Applebee's was such a boon for the business that they put both Hayes and the song in a commercial.
How popular can a TikTok song about an Oreo Cookie Shake be? It's been seen by over 26 million people on Hayes' TikTok account alone thus far. In addition to Hayes and his kids doing a dance (crafted by Hayes' 15-year old daughter), the dance is being performed across TikTok, by folks all over the United States. There's even a video where basketball star and commentator like Shaquille O'Neal sneaks up in the background to get in on the dance, thus extending the popularity and awareness of "Fancy Like" exponentially further.
"We'd like to congratulate Walker on the song of the summer. As soon as we heard 'Fancy Like' and saw the dance videos at our restaurants, we knew we had to showcase this viral sensation," wrote chief marketing officer at Applebee's Joel Yashinsky. "With our new ad debuting today and the return of the Oreo Cookie Shake, we can't wait for guests to head into Applebee's for their own 'Fancy Like' date nights. Just don't ask me to do the dance – I'll leave that to our guests!"
Thankfully, the ad does see fans of "Fancy Like" dancing to the song while images of Applebee's Bourbon Street Steak and the Oreo Cookie Shake, flash across the screen.