You know you’re really onto something when Beyoncé labels your music "amazing."
Emmanuel Houndo, a Central High School student in Philadelphia — that's right, high school student — got that kudo from Queen Bey when she recently shared the teen’s YouTube violin cover of her hit song “Drunk in Love” on her Facebook page.
Since the video was posted on Feb. 2, it has already garnered more than 375,000 views — and has us craving more strings in our hip-hop.
Houndo, who according to his Facebook page is a West Africa native who moved to the United States at a young age, also has posted videos over the past two years covering songs by Alicia Keys, Miley Cyrus, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Macklemore and others. Views for those videos, FYI, range from 2,500 to 25,000 — reinforcing the power of the Beyoncé shout-out.
"I would've never imagined getting this much recognition," Houndo wrote on Facebook this week.
A member of the 2013-2014 All-Philadelphia High School Orchestra, Houndo, who writes on Twitter that he plays by ear, certainly has a bright musical future ahead of him. And, thankfully, we won’t need to wait long for him to rosin up his bow for his next cover: Houndo announced on Facebook that Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” is up next. Someone be sure to let her know, OK?
Lesley Kennedy writes for ShopAtHome.com. Follow ShopAtHome on Twitter and Lesley on Google +.