A new trend of country music is forming in today’s music industry. Artists like Beyonce, Lana Del Rey, Post Malone and many others are hopping on this trend. With country music gaining a lot of popularity over the past few years, many of these artists are broadening their music style to reach a new fan base.
“At its best, the trend could bring a new era of experimentation and exposure to the genre that has been working for years to broaden its fanbase and diversify its artist roster,” (axios.com).
There have been many hints about these artists dropping new country inspired albums. For example, Lana Del Rey has announced that her upcoming album set to be released in September will have a country-infused sound.
“‘If you can’t already tell by our award winners and our performers, the music business is going country,’ she told the crowd. ‘We’re going country. It’s happening,’” (Del Rey, rollingstone.com).
Beyonce is another huge artist that has recently released her new country album called “Country Carter.” Beyonce has received the most Grammys of any artist for her works in pop music, but that has not stopped her from creating her own country crossover. With her recent release of the very popular song “Texas Hold ‘Em,” she has become the pioneer of artists going country.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of the supporters of ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ and ‘16 CARRIAGES’. I feel honored to be the first black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart,” Beyoncé wrote (npr.org).
Post Malone, which is known for his work in hip-hop and rap, has announced his next album release will be country. When asked about his upcoming country album he had this to say,
“I wanted to create something everybody can get down to. People who like country will like it. People who like folk will dig it. Even people who like pop will be into it,” (Malone, US Magazine).
Industry analytics firm, Luminate, reports that country music was one of the fastest-growing streaming genres in the United States in 2023, with over 20 billion country on-demand audio streams—a 23.7 percent increase over the previous year—streaming in the genre. With everything we are seeing with increasingly more pop artists turning to a country vibe, it looks like there will be lots more country music coming up in the music industry.
