Pro:
Country music: some people hate it, some people love it… but either way everyone has some sort of opinion about this genre that seems to be growing in popularity. While some people may feel it to be a bunch of rednecks singing about their trucks and cowboy hats, I happen to be one of the rare kinds of people that enjoy it.
There’s something about Southern accents singing about their hometowns, trucks, and lives that I find alluring. It also is a very classy genre of music. Unlike other genres, like rap or heavy metal, not every other word is a curse word and I don’t feel the need to promptly fast forward the song if one of my parents walks into my room. On iTunes you won’t find the words EXPLICT in red next to pretty much every song and the music videos are also pretty clean. Now, don’t get me wrong, you can find just as many rap, rock, and pop songs on my iPod as country songs, but I just happen to like country a lot better.
It’s not just my morals that draw me towards country music. It’s the way that it’s so relatable and gives you a sense of country pride. Take “It’s America” by Rodney Atkins for example, he sings about what a great country we live in and just by listening to it, the song can remind you how great life is here. And if you want to talk about relatable, just listen to any one of Taylor Swift’s songs. Whether you have a broken heart and need to let lose by crying a bit, or are over your broken heart and want revenge by burning an old picture, Taylor Swift has a song for you. Other artists like Lady Antebellum, Trace Adkins, Carrie Underwood, and Billy Currington also have very relatable songs. One thing I especially admire about country is how it has become a quite popular genre in the past few years; one person that has majorly contributed to this is Taylor Swift. Without T-Swift, any new country fans may have not realized how truly great this genre is. Country music can just instantly put me in a good mood and in no time I find myself singing along with the catchy songs. The way that the upbeat songs can brighten my day is just one of the many things about country music that I love.
Honestly, I don’t see what there is to dislike about it, but clearly plenty of people do. I think of the problems with the country music haters is that they aren’t giving it a chance. They are stereotypical and think it’s just some hillbillies playing their banjo and singing through the three teeth still remaining in their mouth. If more people would give country music a chance, I think people would find that their opinion about this genre has changed. They would find that many songs are just like the songs that they like, minus the profane language and screaming. They would find that maybe, just maybe, they actually like country music.
Con:
There are many genres of music in the world, from rock to jazz, R&B to pop, house to folk. But, if there is one type of music I dislike more than any other, it has to be country. I don’t know what it is, but to me the sound of people singing about their trucks and cowboy hats and their home state of Alabama or Georgia or North Carolina with heavy Southern accents is unappealing. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the state of Alabama, Georgia, or North Carolina, and I love trucks and Southern boys with Southern accents (they are the ONLY boys that know how to treat women right). But, country music just sounds whiny and nasal and quite frankly I feel like my ears are bleeding when I’m flipping channels and hear a country song blasting on CMT.
Country artists such as Brooks and Dunn, Sugarland, Kellie Pickler, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown Band, and Dolly Parton don’t adhere to my taste in music at all. Also, what gets me is that for the CMAs, or Country Music Awards (the VMAs of country music), the same people win EVERY YEAR, which shows that there’s really no diversity in regards to new artists in the genre.
What also bothers me about country music are those artists that try to be country singers. Take Jessica Simpson: born into the genre of pop music, she decides to try to make a country album and fails miserably. Sweetheart, just because you played Daisy Duke in the remake of The Dukes of Hazzard and performed at last year’s Chili Cookoff does NOT make you a country singer. Miley Cyrus: okay, she gets a little more leeway because she’s from Tennessee and her dad is country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. Let’s face it, country is in her roots. BUT, she was also born into the pop genre, and when she filmed The Hannah Montana Movie she made the hit single “The Climb,” which is semi-country. To me, it sounded awful and to this day I still think that it sounds awful. She even claimed in an interview that when she wrote “Party in the USA” that she doesn’t “listen to pop music… and artists such as Britney Spears and Jay-Z” (both of whom she references) and wouldn’t “classify herself as a pop artist.” HELLO, MILEY! YOU ARE INDEED A POP ARTIST. STOP TRYING TO BE A COUNTRY SINGER/ROCK STAR WHEN YOU HAVE A FAN BASE OF 10 YEAR-OLDS AND ARE CLEARLY A POP ICON. ACCEPT IT AND MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE.
However, there are very few country artists that I can tolerate, such artists being Rascal Flats, Carrie Underwood, Jessie James, and Taylor Swift, of course. They’re the only ones that sing about something relatable, such as missing a loved one, wanting to be with a boy who can’t see that you’re in love with him, or wanting to completely trash an ex-boyfriend’s truck by smashing the mirrors and windshield with a baseball bat and keying the side doors (isn’t Carrie Underwood such a wonderful influence among hormonal teenage girls?). Plus, I give T-Swizzle props. That girl broke out onto the music scene at 17 years old and now has an album that’s gone platinum and a sold-out tour PLUS she had to deal with Kanye West, and handled it quite well, on national television AND she dated Taylor Lautner (just run away from John Mayer NOW). That’s a lot to accomplish in 20 short-lived years of life. Also, Swift’s and James’ music goes beyond the genre of country music, diving into other genres such as rock and pop (case-in-point: Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me”), which sounds better musically to me than other country singers.
So, in essence, I honestly can’t stand country music at all. Every time someone forces me to listen to it, I want to crawl into a ball and cry. Everyone is subject to their own opinion, so for now I think I’ll stick to my alternative and headbanging rock music. For those who love country and beg to differ with my statements, feel free to throw your cowboy boots and beer bottles at my head, I can take it.