lilting banjo, cowboy theme and lyrics like “Ridin’ on a tractor” and “Wrangler on my booty”, not to mention an extremely catchy refrain, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” should be a country-music hit. Yet it was kicked off the Billboard country-music chart for not embracing “enough elements of today’s country music”. Billboard later toldmagazine that its decision to take the song off the chart “had nothing to do with the race of the artist”.
One of country music’s greatest strengths is its ability to celebrate working folk in America. But that has also “been its greatest liability”, says Charles Hughes, a historian and author of “Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South”. A recent paper in, an academic journal, examined how men talk about themselves in mainstream country music.
Country radio is the genre’s powerful gatekeeper. Country stations have not played Lil Nas X much until recently. Nor are they playing as many women as before. Jada Watson, of the University of Ottawa, recently found that in 2000 a third of country songs on country radio were sung by women. In 2018 the share was only 11%. Even the top female stars get fewer spins. Carrie Underwood had 3m plays between 2000 and 2018; Kenny Chesney received twice as many.
A few black artists, such as Charley Pride, Darius Rucker and Kane Brown, have been successful. Some popular white artists have rapped on country ditties. Yet a young black man using similar imagery and sounds to those that dominate country radio stations gets little play. Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” remix, which features Billy Ray Cyrus of “Achy Breaky Heart” fame, has topped Billboard’s Hot 100 for eight weeks.
Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)
That not good. Some south women are going to need to put their cowboy boots right up there objectifying songs!
JonahNRO Here’s what happened: Rap and Hip Hop have ruined pop music and country has become the new pop. The result is god awful. Look for the Ken Burns Country Music documentary on PBS to hear some real country.
Oh please! Now you’re targeting country music?
Reggaeton with banjo and violins.
I only listen to classic country. The stuff isn't country. Well the king is still making good country.
Thanks JonahNRO I always go to the Economist first when I'm looking to analyze country music lyrics
...thanks to rap.
Writer obviously does not listen to new (LadyA, M&T, OldD, FGL) or old country (Cash) ...
Another wedge driven into daily life by some liberal freak. Who listens to tear in your beer lyrics and walks away with a MeToo grievance? realDonaldTrump gets blamed for dividing the country but the truth is...he has nothing to do with it...
Wait until you type Rap music on your computer
Oh good! Twitter really needed another salon.
Don’t women objectify men ...?
Not much on 'country radio' is country. IMO, 95% of 'country' produced after 2005 would be out of the chart and shown as an example of a mistake. Need a modern day equivalent of the Bakersfield sound and the Outlaw movement to save the memory of what was my genere of choice.
False
'I like big butts too, and I cannot lie'
What have the black guy got to do with it?
Aqui no BR isso já mudou faz tempo. Objetificar mulher e apoiar traição, só dá isso!!!
Trying to mix country music with Rap has ruined the new industry. Bring back fiddles, banjos, Steele guitar and love songs!
Honestly, it would be quite easy to compile an anthology of songs objectifying women for the past 5000 years. One could argue it is a primary driver for music in general, with some liturgical exceptions. It’s a wonder there is some popular music that DOESN’T objectify women.
Now do rap
Rap and pop influence.
Doing a Bhojpuri!!!
Show the black guy. Genius move Economics
There hasn’t been a decent country song recorded since MarkChesnutt “To Cold at Home”. brocountrysux
Welcome to everyday Reggeaton.
We are Devo
How else to stay relevant considering people’s preference for hip-hop “audio porn”?
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