Royale Lynn Examines the Pains of Leaving Love Behind on Personal New Single “Texas Hold ‘Em”

2019 was breakout year for Royale Lynn. The Canada born/Nashville living singer/songwriter released three singles that have earned her over 150,000 Spotify streams, saw her fanbase steadily grown, and perhaps most importantly, introduced and cemented her brand of “Cowgirl Country” to the masses.

With anticipation building after the release of her last single, “Howdy,” Royale Lynn has now released her first single in nearly a full year, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” and it’s made it worth the wait and then some.

“Texas Hold ‘Em,” has been waiting in the wings since early Spring, but as it has for most, 2020 brought things to a screeching halt. With the extra time to have the track in her hands before releasing it to the world, Royale Lynn says she was able to breathe new life into the song and allow it to reach its full potential.

“I am so excited to have ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ out into the world. 2020 has been one of those years that has set many people back and I am no exception to that. This release was initially supposed to drop in May, but with everything going on, we thought it would be best to push the release,” Royale Lynn says. “I am happy with our decision to put things on hold because we got to play around with this track a lot more, which ultimately brought this song to life. I am a firm believer of ‘everything happens for a reason!’”

Like “Howdy” before it, “Texas Hold ‘Em” doubles down on Royale Lynn injecting wordplay into her music, something she says she continues to enjoy.

“I am a huge play-on words kinda gal! I really love a good twist and with this song, that’s exactly what you get,” Royale Lynn says. “I have heard a lot of people ask if the song is about poker and I always laugh! It has an element of poker, but the story itself is about heartbreak.”

Royale Lynn says when the hook of the song hit her, it stopped her dead in her tracks, and has since becomes a personal favorite for her.

“I will tell ya, the day I thought of this idea, it hit me like a freight train. I was in the car with one of the co-writers and nearly had to pull over [laughs]. I just thought ‘If I can’t hold him anymore, Texas is gonna have to; Texas Hold HIM!’ After that, I sat down with Hunter Wolkonowski and Lydia Dall and we gave life to the idea,” Royale Lynn says. “I truly could not have done it without them; the emotion, the heartbreak, the love story that was coming to an end. This is one of my favourite songs I’ve gotten to write/release, and I hope others love it as much as I do!”

Because the song is based on true events, the emotions Royale Lynn delivers in the song are very real. However, she says “Texas Hold ‘Em” brought about a sense of catharsis and helped her grasp the emotions she was feeling.

“This song is actually based on a true story. I went through something super similar to this story, but I was the one being left, so I wanted to write about something super personal to me, but in the perspective of what he was feeling when he felt the need to go,” Royale Lynn says. “It’s harsh and it wasn’t easy to relive that part of my life over again, but it helped me come to terms with it. You can still very much love someone but know you shouldn’t be together. It took me years to understand that.”

With its release, “Texas Hold ‘Em” climbed into the top 30 on the iTunes country charts, something that both took Royale Lynn by surprise and brought about plenty of emotions.

“I was so incredibly emotional seeing ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ chart, but to see it chart at number 27, I was in tears!” Royale Lynn says. “I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I’m so happy everyone loves the song as much as I do!”

Though there may have been some bumps in the road, Royale Lynn says she didn’t let her newfound downtime go to waste. As she holds out hope that she’ll be able to take her music on the road in some capacity, she says she has spent the last few months in writing rooms and in the studio preparing new music.

“2020 has been absolutely crazy and unpredictable. I wanted to come out of quarantine and be better at everything, but it wasn’t ideal and I had days where I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was hard on a lot of people to find a balance when the performing aspect of our lives took a huge halt,” Royale Lynn says. “I took the down time to write new songs, hone in on my craft and get into the studio to bring y’all new music. So after the release of ‘Texas Hold ‘Em,’ I will continue to write and hopefully get back on the road a little bit. That’s the plan at least, 2020 may have other plans!”