Who Is 'Becky?': Beyonce's 'Lemonade' Sparks New Interest

The pop singer referenced the term "Becky" in her stand-out track "Sorry."

ByABC News
April 28, 2016, 3:27 PM

— -- Thanks to Beyonce's latest album "Lemonade," the entire Internet is asking one question: "Who is Becky?"

In a song titled "Sorry," the singer croons of a woman who decides to go out and party with her friends after she's caught her husband cheating. Bey sings, "He better call Becky with the good hair."

Although the line is catchy -- so catchy, Beyonce sings it twice -- "Becky" isn't new to pop music.

In fact, "Becky" dates all the way back to 1992 when Sir Mix-a-Lot started his Grammy Award-winning song, "Baby Got Back" with the now famous words: "Oh my God, Becky, look at her butt."

So who exactly is this "Becky"?

"Becky is any white woman," Shenequa Golding, associate editor of Vibe magazine, said. "You normally don't see black women named Becky, just like you've never met a white Keisha. So when you say 'Becky,' that name is being used to promote women who have fair skin."

Over time, and especially in hip hop culture, the name has been turned into a term that appears to mean a variety of things, from displaying one's "whiteness" to a woman with sexual prowess, added Golding. One example of the latter is Plies' 2009 hit song "Becky."

The term has also popped up in other songs, including Drake's "The Motto," Dierks Bentley's "What Was I Thinkin'," Eminem and D-12's song "The Band" and Wiz Khalifa's hit "We Dem Boyz."

And before Sir Mix-a-Lot popularized the name in the modern-day musical zeitgeist, Kenny Rogers even chose to use the name, because of its popularity, in his 1979 hit "Coward Of The County."

Although there's no word on who Beyonce was referencing, if she was even referring to a person at all, we agree with a meme posted by actress Lori Loughlin, who portrayed Rebecca "Aunt Becky" Donaldson in ABC's "Full House." She wrote as a caption: "Wasn't me."