Country Gone Pop

Ever turned on your favorite modern country radio station and wondered if you were actually listening to a pop station? I have. Today’s country music does not have the twang and honky tonk sound that your father’s and grandfather’s grew up listening to. It is a lot more mainstream then country music’s past generations. Many people fear that the essence of country music is lost by people like Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift, who have given country music a very pop feel, but in return, has brought a bigger audience then the genre has ever seen!

            We started seeing the first merge of the two genres at the turn of the century. Shania Twain integrated it into her sound and led country music to a bigger audience then ever before. Even today, after years out of the spotlight, she is still considered, and always will, be one of the most famous female country music stars of all time. The change never really took its course though until the decline of pop music from mainstream radio.

The bubble gum pop of that time, who boasted some big names like: Britney Spears, Nsync, and the Backstreet Boys, seemed to ruin the reputation of pop, and destroy the pop of modern today. Pop had, and always will have, a huge audience. It is the medium in all forms of music and the easiest for most to agree to. So after the end of bubblegum pop, the audience had nowhere to go. Mainstream radio station’s seemed to be a host to music with a very urban beat, beautiful in its own right, but not to everyone’s taste.

They remembered the few country stars that were very similar to pop, the Shania Twain’s of that era, and switched their radios to country, hoping to catch the easy listening beats that they missed on mainstream radio. That, in turn, led a huge audience to country, an audience that didn’t want to hear the twang, but the easy going pop of mainstream music. Country- willing and wanting the audience and the money, gave it what it wanted.

            Today, it seems to have taken over country radio. People have noticed the change and given it a new name- Pop Country. A slue of new artists have made its database huge, including: Rascal Flats, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and many more.

            There are however, some artists that will always stick to the sound that they grew up listening to, including: Reba Mcentire, George Strait, Alan Jackson, and Kenny Chesney. Chesney has actually embraced the change somewhat different then others. He added a new flavor of his own: country meets rock and island music. It is a very unique blend that he has mastered as his own.

            Will country music go back to the twang of yesteryear? Probably. Fads change and everything always seems to come full circle in the end. Who knows, maybe this audience’s grandchildren will talk about how pop country has gotten huge again!