The Year of the Pop Girls Going Country
The difference between genre and style and historical precedent for going between genre boundaries
As we countdown to the release of Beyonce’s next album in her Renaissance trilogy, there has been much discussion around the album’s genre and sound. When the lead singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” were surprise dropped during the Super Bowl, they gave the first indication that this would be her long-awaited country album, a style she has flirted with before on “Daddy Lessons” from 2016’s Lemonade. Now officially titled Cowboy Carter, the album title is thought by fans to be a reference to both Beyonce’s married name and to The Carter Family, considered the first family of country music. “Texas Hold ‘Em” initially sparked discourse amongst different factions of music listeners. Those who primarily listen to Beyonce and pop music rejoiced that Beyonce was reclaiming her country roots as a Black Texan woman, while primarily country listeners lamented what they perceived to be another interloper into their genre. Even country radio, who is no stranger to criticisms of gatekeeping, came under fire for not playing the new Beyonce song because they are a “country station,” insinuating that they didn’t consider her “country enough.” The station quickly reversed course after being called out and played the song, but the country music powers that be already made their position clear —to them, Beyonce isn’t country.
But country radio is in for a long year, as Beyonce isn’t the only pop girlie releasing a country album in 2024. Lana Del Rey has confirmed her upcoming country album Lasso, due out in September. Like Beyonce, this is not Del Rey’s first foray into the country sound. She has previously performed covers of country classics like Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” in her live performances and released a version of her covering “Take Me Home, Country Roads” in December. Nothing has been heard from the album as of yet, so it remains to be seen what, if any, backlash country purists will fling at Lasso.
Just like the controversy that Lil Nas X found himself in when he released “Old Town Road,” country purists are forgetting that genre lines, while they do exist, are not firm, unwavering boundaries that have no crossover or influence on one another. Rather the boundary between genres is porous and flexible, making it entirely possible for artists to make music in the style of a genre different than their usual work without it being a complete genre shift. What Taylor Swift did with 1989 was a total genre shift, but she had flirted with a more pop sound even earlier on 2012’s Red and still continues to pull from her country roots in her newer work, most notably on “no body, no crime” from 2020’s evermore. But a genre shift is not what Beyonce or Lana Del Rey are after. If it were, that would require of us as listeners to seriously reorient how we think about their music as there would be different genre history and expectations that we’d be judging them against.
Much to the country purists’ chagrin, there’s plenty of historical precedent for the mixing of specifically the pop and country genres. The history of country music is littered with artists who found a home in the genre having come to it from somewhere else. Emmylou Harris came to the genre from folk through her friendship with Gram Parsons and later her collaborations with Rodney Crowell. Glen Campbell, who started originally as a session musician with the Wrecking Crew, eventually signed a record deal as a country singer. Kenny Rogers is known for spanning many genres, including country, rock, pop jazz, and folk throughout his decades-long career, later earning him a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame amongst other accolades. Linda Ronstadt, Eagles, and America all have a country-rock hybrid sound to varying degrees. Dean Martin and Ray Charles both made full country albums, with Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music being considered one of the best country albums of all time.
And artists that have started and built their careers in the country genre have been able to find success crossing over into pop. All the way back in the mid 1950s, still in country’s early days, Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley brought pop sensibilities to Music Row, smoothing out the more raucous honky-tonk sound. Out of that fusion came artists like Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, and mid-career George Jones, all of whom have contributed greatly to country music with their more pop-country sound. Elvis, considered the King of Rock’n’Roll, started singing country, appearing on the Louisiana Hayride just like Hank Williams before him. Then there’s Johnny Cash who, like his contemporary Elvis, was at the forefront of rockabilly and later rock’n’roll as a commercial genre, but throughout his career, he successfully toed the line between country and rock, making him a major player in both genres.
In 1977, Dolly Parton had a number 1 country hit and a number 3 pop hit with “Here You Come Again” and in the ‘90s, mainstream country went full country-pop with Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and Garth Brooks.
Even modern country artists have benefitted from and found a wider audience from adopting a more pop sound. Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, and Kelsea Ballerini have used their position as Music Row outsiders to experiment and expand their sound which has led to Grammy recognition and major pop collaborations for all three of them.
Personally, I’d love to see more of this genre blurring and style borrowing. It seems to me like only a matter of time before Harry Styles enters his cowboy era. From his start in the world of boyband pop to the classic rock sound of his debut album and the more funk-inspired sounds of Harry’s House, Styles’ music has never dipped too far into the country genre, despite his love for it and many run-ins with it.
When Shania Twain joined Styles on stage for his first Coachella weekend in 2022, he mentioned that he had fond memories of listening to Twain together with his mother in the car and how that experience is partially what made him want to be a singer. Twain’s influence also appears in Styles’ career when he covered “Still the One” live in concert with his opening act, Kacey Musgraves. His choice in covers shows a wide range of listening and influence, including his version of “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town for Spotify. And even though Styles hasn’t written any straight-forward country songs for himself, he does have writing credit on “Changes,” from the debut album for Cam. Fans have also heard Styles’ voice in the background of the track. All of this leads to a very simple question: when will it finally be time for Cowboy Harry?
If there is anything that I hope can be taken away from this year of the pop girls going country, it’s that genres are not exclusive clubs. The much ado about nothing over Beyonce is just that — a whole lot of nothing. Anyone is welcome to make music and be evaluated in whatever style or genre they so choose. That’s not to say that genre boundaries are entirely nonexistent because that’s not true either. But barring one artist from at least trying out a new style seems like the criticism may be about more than just music.
