Levi’s is on cloud nine after getting a shout-out on Beyoncé’s new country album, Cowboy Carter.
The denim label changed the brand’s Instagram name to Levii’s in honor of Beyoncé’s song “Levii’s Jeans” featuring Post Malone from the 27-track record. On the melody, Beyoncé, 42, belts out, “Boy, I’ll let you be my Levi’s jeans / So you can hug that ass all day long,” as Malone, 28, croons, “Love it when you tease me in them jeans, girl, you don’t need designer.”
In addition to the moniker update, Levi’s posted a carousel of models in the jeans with the caption, “Oh to be Levi’s jeans right now.”
Since the album’s Friday, March 29, release, fans have pointed out that “Levii’s Jeans” is more than just a flirty tune. The track also speaks to Beyoncé’s longstanding relationship with the fashion company and her own style evolution.
Popular fashion TikToker Keena, known by the handle @newandwell, broke down the significance of “Levii’s Jeans” in a video shared on Saturday, March 30.
“If you’ve been here since the Destiny’s Child days, you know the Virgo came out on this [song] in such a subtle and sophisticated way,” Keena began. She went on to remind fans of Beyoncé’s 2016 CFDA Fashion Icon Award win where the singer told audience members that Levi’s was the only brand that was willing to dress her, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.
“She called out what we already knew — that high-end designers did not want to work with four Black country girls with curves,” Kenna said in the clip. “The responsibility for keeping them dressed fell on Beyoncé’s family, especially her mother Tina Knowles.”
Keena continued, “That 2016 acceptance speech was so significant because The New York Times had done a piece saying that Beyoncé is an icon but not necessarily a fashion icon because she doesn’t have a specific look. That opinion piece failed to acknowledge that there are systemic problems that kept Beyoncé away from high-end designers. The brand that did get behind Tina Knowles is Levi’s. Destiny’s Child was the face of Levi’s low-rise jeans and the denim looks have always been so significant for every era of Beyoncé.”
As Keena said, Beyoncé revealed that her mom was “rejected from every showroom in New York” in her 2016 speech.
“Like my grandmother, she used her talent and creativity to give her children their dreams. My mother and my uncle Johnny designed all of our first costumes and made each piece by hand. … When I wore these clothes onstage, I felt I had an extra suit of armor. It was so much deeper than any brand name. … My mother and my uncle and my grandmother were with me … I couldn’t fail.”
Beyoncé previously paid tribute to her uncle Johnny — who died of an AIDS-related complication when the singer was 17 — on Renaissance. On the hit “Heated,” she praises her late relative for making her prom dress.
