Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor to Play the CMA Awards
The Country Music Association Awards, or CMA’s are nigh upon us, and set to transpire on Wednesday, November 5th. And to get you all horny for the festivities, it’s been announced that ultra pop star Ariana Grande, and “All About That Bass” overnight sensation Meghan Trainor will be part of this year’s presentation. Miranda Lambert will be performing “All About That Bass” with Trainor, and Ariana will be performing with Little Big Town. Because you know, a country presentation devoid of high-caliber pop stars would be inherently boring and way too country to entice John Q Public to tune in apparently.
Pop stars and other non-country performers are nothing out-of-the-ordinary on the CMA stage, so let’s not make too much of this. Over the last few years, a non-country appearance by a big current star has almost become the norm. Remember when Kid Rock performed on the 2008 CMA Awards, and Lil’ Wayne showed up on stage, not really doing anything but soaking up face time on primetime television? This is all a symptom of country music’s lack of self-esteem and feeling like it needs to apologize for being country and prove it isn’t to win your interest. Instead the genre should be putting its best foot forward during its most prominent event of the year and making new fans by showcasing what it does best, and what makes it unique from the rest of music.
The problem with this particular selection of pop stars is that it speaks to a much deeper dilemma country music is facing, or more aptly, unwilling to face, and that’s why we’re taking critical awards show time from much more worthy country artists and relenting it to female pop stars outside the genre. It’s like when the country industry started nominating Kelly Clarkson for awards out of nowhere because they felt there were no other worthy names. Right now females are dominating the pop charts, holding the top five spots on Billboard’s Hot 100, including Meghan Trainor coming in at #1, Ariana Grande at #5, and lookey there, the artists formerly known as country, Taylor Swift, taking the salutatorian spot at #2.
READ: Is Pop Music Now Trumping Pop Country in Substance?
Meanwhile, where are the women in the country charts? Carrie Underwood’s “Something In The Water” made a valiant showing, cresting at #2. But except for that, there’s not much to be found. Mark my words, the booking of Meghan Trainor and Ariana Grande is directly tied to the genre losing Taylor Swift this year, and needing a high-caliber pop-oriented female artist to compete for viewers. Really, if you’re going to go out and get a pop star, why not Taylor Swift? She’s got a brand new album coming out, and a history with the genre neither Meghan Trainor or Ariana Grande do. But Taylor is making a concerted effort to divest herself from the country mindset, and for reasons it’s hard to fault her for. This all says something very serious about the state of females in country music, and the country industry’s inability to develop female superstars.
No offense to Ariana Grande or Meghan Trainor whatsoever. In this day and age of country music, Ariana can blow pretty much every single one of country’s weak, Auto-Tuned voices right off the stage save for maybe Carrie Underwood, and it will be refreshing to see an astounding voice perform instead of just another Bro-Country act up there hobbling though a backwards baseball cap white boy rap performance. And Meghan Trainor, who is a Nashville resident, has done something the girls of country have been unable to do heretofore, which is challenge the image-driven, male-dominated landscape with a self-empowering message that captures the zeitgest, regardless of how annoyingly ubiquitous and automated that particular song might be.
But why not give those performance positions to some of country music’s amazing young female talent, or some of the more mature talent that is being shuffled to the side? Maddie & Tae’s “Girl In A Country Song” is no “All About That Bass,” (and their performance on Letterman was pretty terrible), but why not give them the opportunity? How about Lee Ann Womack who has a new album, or Ashley Monroe who has a song out with Blake Shelton? The only way country will ever become independent of the pop world for eyeballs is if it develops its own performers of interest.
The CMA’s job is to promote the Country music industry, and the bump Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor will receive won’t do that; it will diminish the country focus in a time support for country music’s female artists is needed the most. The CMA stage could make a star on November 5th. But only if they’re given the opportunity.
October 20, 2014 @ 6:42 pm
I have nothing against Ariana and Meghan (as I do love pop music and enjoy what they’re doing)…but come on. It’s funny how country has such a female problem. but this show has no qualms about reaching outside the format for females to perform. Sigh.
How about any of these fine ladies: Brandy Clark, Maddie & Tae, Kellie Pickler, Ashley Monroe, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Danielle Bradbery…and I could go on and on and on and on…
On another note, Carrie’s SITW isn’t falling–on Hot Country Songs, yes, as the sales have stabilized after the initial release, but it’s continuing to climb at radio. In fact, it’s the only solo female track in the Top 30 at Mediabase. But yea, the female situation has gotten worse…Oy vey.
October 20, 2014 @ 8:58 pm
Noted, and amended, thanks.
November 2, 2014 @ 8:25 am
..You know, it’s funny, but the BEST (country-fied) version ever of pop song ‘All About That Bass’, is by country a cappella band: Home Free !!…Check it out, Meghan tweeted them that it was the best thing she’d ever seen!!
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..They did a fantastic short CMA medley: ‘CMA 2014 Single Of The Year Mash-Up’ & the harmonies are INCREDIBLE, with an insane beatboxer…(new to country!!) ..Wish they could sing this on the CMAs (they’re inductees) b4 the nominees are announced. …Maybe next year!…. (When they win all kinds of awards) !?! 🙂
October 20, 2014 @ 6:59 pm
I like some pop music and a lot of country ,but please leave them separate . I can’t stand it when they start crossing over
October 20, 2014 @ 7:06 pm
Kacey has already been confirmed as a CMA Awards performer. She was announced last week. If she is performing, then odds are she is getting a full slot. Whether that will be to perform her own music or something else, I don’t know, because she doesn’t have a current single and I was under the impression that her work on major label album #2 is just beginning.
You’re looking at the Hot Country Songs chart, where its move up to #2 was driven by download sales and debut week airplay (which included hourly spins on its debut day from Clear Channel and at least some Cumulus and CBS stations) plus streaming. Sales obviously drifted down after the 1st week, and in the 2nd week, Something In The Water had comparatively less airplay than it did in its 1st week due to the lack of hourly play – that’s why Something In The Water dropped to #5 on HCS.
However, in week 3, Something In The Water’s airplay is back up (and higher than its week 1 airplay, as you’d expect). A video for the song (which Carrie filmed a couple weeks ago) will help its placement on the Hot Country Songs chart, because it will spike streaming. A video may also facilitate a sales spike, and Carrie’s performance on the CMA Awards will hopefully create a sales spike. But my main point is the 1st 3 weeks on the HCS chart are not enough to establish a trend line because things like debuts tend to create especially volatile chart rankings. Also, the industry really does pretty much ignore the HCS chart.
Here’s my take on Meghan Trainor and Ariana Grande performing at the CMAs:
I don’t see how Ariana Grande makes sense with a group known for their 4 part harmonies, and that pairing is very obviously coordinated by management – Ariana Grande’s manager Scooter Braun has a management consortium that includes Sandbox Entertainment, which has Little Big Town on its roster. That pairing reads as image rehab for Ariana Grande (who has gotten some pretty negative press lately) and a way to get Little Big Town some extra mainstream exposure. Little Big Town will be interviewing with Ryan Seacrest on his syndicated radio show tomorrow has they promote their new album, and they’ve promised him exclusive details on this performance, so you see why they’d sign up for this. I’m just not sure how it’s going to make sense musically.
Meanwhile, Miranda’s Platinum is her most polished, mainstream album yet, and her imaging (her weight loss and all the press that’s come with it, the type of song she chose for her duet with Carrie Underwood, her recent performance at Fashion Rocks, etc.) has made it clear her team is working for all genre mainstream appeal. Miranda has talked about wanting to do collaborations with people in other genres, so it was a matter of time. Musically, this seems like it could be a decent fit (although as somebody pointed out to me on Twitter, it’ll be a ironic seeing Miranda sing about not being a size 2 and the joys of having a booty when she’s spent the past year or so losing weight so that she is now a size 2), and performing with somebody whose had the zeitgeisty song of the summer could be a good launching point for higher mainstream awareness of Miranda. That way, pop radio station headlines about Miranda may actually start using her name instead of calling her Blake Shelton’s wife.
Too, the headlines about how pop right now is a woman’s world (the top 5 songs on the Hot 100 are all by females) got me thinking. 2 years of bro country domination at country radio have led to an audience that has really narrow taste, and not a whole lot of tolerance for female voices. Meanwhile pop has proven receptive to women. Maybe the pairing of LBT with Ariana, and even more so Miranda with Meghan, is about reaching out to fans who are receptive to women, fans who are unlikely to find a whole lot at country radio to interest them because country radio plays so few women. Maybe the alignment with big pop acts is about trying to bring those fans back to mainstream country, about trying to transform the audience for country so more women have a chance. Country music fans are all over and a lot of them are not listening to country radio right now. So TV performances are a chance to reach them.
That being said, I would prefer a Lee Ann Womack performance. I’m still wondering if we might get a Reba performance with her big announcement set for tomorrow. I would love, love, love a Brandy Clark performance, since she is after all a nominee for 2 CMA Awards (who according to page 4 of Billboard Country Update will soon be signed to a major label. I’m thinking the Ashley Monroe/Blake Shelton performance is going to happen at the 2015 ACMs but I’d be happy if it happened at the CMAs.
I definitely agree that country needs to have confidence in its own music to develop an audience of its own. But the problem is that country radio being in the narrow rut it’s been in the past couple of years has narrowed country’s audience, so some outreach is necessary. I’d much rather that outreach happen on the traditional side, but I can see strategically why outreach on the pop side might have some benefits too.
October 20, 2014 @ 7:45 pm
I like your thinking.
I’m not sure how LBT and Ariana are going to fit either. Her voice is unreal but I don’t think it would harmonize well with them. Kasey and Meghan could have been interesting together also. They both have such cool voices. I think women are very ready to have some ladies gracing the stage at these shows and sung some good music.
October 20, 2014 @ 10:58 pm
Wow, I’m very pleased to hear Brandy Clark will be signing with a major label. Granted, seeing a talented indie artist scooped up by the major label system typically makes me nervous, but at this point I feel pretty confident that Brandy won’t compromise her vision. She certainly deserves all the exposure she’s received lately. And the fact that she received a 2014 CMA nomination for Best New Artist gives me a small glimmer of hope that “the academy” isn’t totally asleep at the wheel.
Also, I now see that Brandy will be touring with Alan Jackson in 2015. Nice.
October 21, 2014 @ 10:27 am
Speaking of Braun I read this line on another site and had a good chuckle:
“Keep in mind, Ariana is managed by Scooter Braun, the same man responsible for Justin Bieber, and his ability to turn little shitheads into even bigger shitheads practically qualifies as sorcery.”
October 20, 2014 @ 7:08 pm
Trigger, the sad part is that you’re correct in saying that a lot of these Auto-Tuned idiots would be out sung by Ariana (who’s already been dubbed the Second Coming of Mariah Carey). I personally don’t turn into any award shows because its all one big popularity contest and I find THAT to be pathetic.
October 21, 2014 @ 10:22 am
Really? I thought that was Leona Lewis. I can’t keep up with this high turnover rate of stars. And frankly if she can sing it is lost under all that production and auto-tune and bad songwriting.
October 20, 2014 @ 7:26 pm
I have never heard of either of these girls – the one looks like miss piggy. But, I just found out last week that the song for the car commercial – the one with the dancing hamsters – is an actual maroon 5 song played on the radio. So, I’m out of the loop. I’ll have to brush up on pop music to watch a country music award show.
October 20, 2014 @ 7:45 pm
Unfunny comment. The whole point of Meghan Trainor’s song “All About That Bass” is to be proud of who you are. She hardly looks like Miss Piggy. The song kind of contradicts itself but it is a fun little song and she’s got a cool voice and vibe.
October 20, 2014 @ 11:24 pm
I don’t know anything about her or her music and that picture is the only one I’ve ever seen of her (knowingly). It’s very pink and heavy on the make-up and Miss Piggy liked pink and wore a lot of make-up. But, that’s great if she has a song out about being yourself.
October 20, 2014 @ 8:00 pm
Have to chuckle how we rationalize for the ladies but those tattooed pop singin’ boys can just git the heck out of Dodge!
Move along, nothing new to see here; the CMA’s have been pop music for a long time. I’d just like a little bit of country with my pop please and put a straw in it!
October 20, 2014 @ 7:37 pm
Really though”¦. if Taylor didn’t decide to go all pop and attended this years CMA”¦ none of this would Bull would be happening”¦ its kind of sad how they have to get these pop tarts to increase ratings
October 20, 2014 @ 9:46 pm
I think Taylor deserves credit for finally stepping up and moving to the genre she should have been in years ago. Now if some others would do the same…
October 21, 2014 @ 12:36 am
I don’t like hearing these pop tarts at country award shows, but it can’t be worse than bringing back Taylor Swift. I think people know that Meghan and Ariana are just pop visitors appearing on the country show for marketing outreach. I doubt many people will be fooled into thinking that they are country. At least they won’t get to destroy country music from within.
October 21, 2014 @ 1:02 am
One good thing about Taylor at the CMA is that she always plays one of the more country songs on her albums there (“Love Story” in 2008, “Fifteen” in 2009, “Back to December” in 2010, “Ours” in 2011, and “Begin Again” in 2012). She actually has respect for the CMA, unlike Luke Bryan, Florida-Georgia Line, or other bro-country singers who play their bro songs on the CMA stage.
October 21, 2014 @ 7:19 am
This is actually a pretty good point. No matter how pop her music has become, she always played her more country-sounding songs at the CMAs. Something the bro-country acts, as you noted, don’t do.
October 21, 2014 @ 10:47 am
Eric.. you seem to really stan for taylor”¦ how do you feel about her new album 1989 are you still a fan of her as a pop artist now?
October 21, 2014 @ 12:02 pm
I am not a fan of her pop music. What is disappointing me the most about this album so far is that we were promised that it would feature an 80’s sound (80’s pop-rock is my second favorite genre after country music), but so far all of the songs released have been built on a modern pop sonic structure, complete with electronic beats.
November 6, 2014 @ 8:52 pm
You do realize that Ms. Trainor writes music for Ricky Skaggs? In fact I believe two songs on his new album are written by her.
October 20, 2014 @ 7:38 pm
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Either way, it’s not that surprising, just disappointing.
October 20, 2014 @ 7:57 pm
The whole thing makes me glad I don’t watch television. Not ever.
October 20, 2014 @ 9:02 pm
DAMN. I have a feeling I won’t like that song anymore after Miranda sings on it. 😐
I used to love Miranda, btw. But, it’s like she doesn’t even try anymore, unless she’s trying to shed a tear.
October 20, 2014 @ 9:05 pm
Well, I’ll be skipping this one…
October 20, 2014 @ 9:29 pm
F— these stupid shows and a double F— You to the producers.
October 20, 2014 @ 9:50 pm
Isn’t an Ariana Grande that new Taco Bell Americanized Mexican dollar menu item?
October 20, 2014 @ 10:32 pm
YES!! I’ve been thinking that exact thing for a long time! Every time I hear her name, I just want a burrito. I had this discussion with a coworker last week..she’s the burrito girl! hahaha
October 21, 2014 @ 11:48 am
That’s just racist, she has no mexican blood, not even latin american. She’s of italian descent.
October 20, 2014 @ 11:21 pm
Out of curiosity, I decided to listen to “All About That Bass”. Even though the intention might be positive, the poor lyricism really alienates me. The song would have been drastically elevated if it had expressed its point more eloquently and especially if it had refrained from gratuitously criticizing thin women.
Kacey Musgraves provided the template on how to write on this theme in an inclusive and humorous, rather than angry, manner:
“If you can’t lose the weight
Then you’re just fat
But if you lose too much
Then you’re on crack”
October 21, 2014 @ 8:45 am
Well put, especially re: the Kacey lyric. 🙂
One of my hangups about AATB (besides the catchy chorus melody being kind of a rip-off of Phish’s “Contact” — “The tires are the things on your car that make contact with the road…”) is how it inextricably links a woman’s worth to her sex appeal. Maybe that’s the only way to get through to certain audiences these days, but to me — regardless of the less narrow standard of beauty the song suggests — it’s not much different from all these “bro” country songs in which girls seem to exist only to look good for their fellas.
October 21, 2014 @ 10:15 am
True. Because while she is celebrating larger women she is saying you have to have the bass to get a man. And thus putting the focus on looks while slamming the skinny girls. A better song would be, “I’m All About The Production (no auto-tune)”. LOL!
October 21, 2014 @ 1:15 pm
Thank you!!! I’m glad I’m not the only one to make this comparison. I like the song musically, but it could have been much better than lame attempts like this:
“Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that
No I’m just playing.”
Puh-lease. People are gonna remember the “skinny bitches” line, not the “oh no I’m just playin!” part. Whereas Kacey’s song makes every line even and memorable. Women putting other women down to bring themselves up is a big problem, and I don’t buy any message of confidence that’s based on doing that. Just because it’s the opposite side of the coin here doesn’t make it okay .
October 21, 2014 @ 9:27 pm
I checked out the song too, and I tend to agree with y’all (as I said in my reply to Trainwreck92’s comment below.) The fact the song can’t make its point without resorting to hitting back at skinny girls is a sign that it’s not particularly deep. And at the end of the day, “All About That Bass” is still a song about body parts.
Also, despite the fact that “Follow Your Arrow” wasn’t necessarily perfect, I think KAcey Musgraves was pretty much on the the money regarding the subject of one’s weight, and most other things: people are basically going to judge you no matter what you do.
October 21, 2014 @ 12:20 am
Nashville has an amazing inferiority complex considering country artists are usually among the most talented across genres. While I can see they want the highest ratings possible in a day and age when no one takes these awards shows seriously (nor should they) they always resort to pulling in outside acts which seems like a slap in the face to all the country acts to me.
As for the country female issue, the ones who are actually interesting and aren’t named Miranda and Kacey are usually marginalized and paid lip service to while people who really have nothing to do with country like Lucy Hale and Jana Kramer are allowed to make boring predictable crap. Plus, any country female who doesn’t have model good looks won’t get anywhere either. It’s amazing to me that Brandy Clark is getting as much (completely deserved!) attention as she is.
October 21, 2014 @ 9:56 am
They do love to make those WB actresses into singers.
October 21, 2014 @ 12:25 am
‘The only way country will ever become independent of the pop world for eyeballs is if it develops its own performers of interest.’
You assume that ‘country’ WANTS to become independent of the pop world ,Trigger . It should be quite clear by now that, in fact, it doesn’t ( Little Big Town , Antebellum , Aldean , Kruise KIds, Luke Bryan etc.. ) . Why have your own ‘country ‘ artists sing pop songs when you can import the REAL THING and its so much better . Grande will bring in a viewership that Miranda , Kasey , Ashley and Carrie COMBINED probably couldn’t .
October 21, 2014 @ 2:45 am
I guess Iggy Azalea wasn’t available….
October 21, 2014 @ 1:32 pm
She could do a mashup of her “Fancy” and Reba’s “Fancy!” 😉
October 21, 2014 @ 4:12 pm
Have y’all ever heard Bobbie Gentry’s original version of the song “Fancy?”
She’s the one who wrote it, and in my opinion, her version blows Reba’s version away. (No disrespect to Reba, of course.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORfoK5Ap0FA
October 21, 2014 @ 4:29 am
Heyday, please do not give them any ideas!!!
October 21, 2014 @ 5:24 am
Who???
October 21, 2014 @ 5:49 am
Remember when your blog was popular? Yeah, neither do I.
October 21, 2014 @ 6:38 am
I really hate what pop music turned itself into ever since it was taken by the domino of rap and electronic music. So you know, country is in a somewhat similar situation, now it’s just as painful to see the Grammy’s as the CMA’s.
At least in the film industry they have more respect for themselves.
October 21, 2014 @ 10:09 am
Well, SOME people in film have respect for themselves. That amount of fart comedies big stars make astounds me, not to mention the cookie-cutter hack and slash horror films, and it seem that when some actor get their oscar they go on to make some of the worst films of their careers.
Now you know who maintains some modicum of respect for their craft, poets! It’s much harder to sell poetry if you’re shit stinks and the words are weak. Unless you are cute and under the age of ten.
October 21, 2014 @ 12:53 pm
Overall, the film industry has more respect for the past than the music industry does.
As far as awards go, the Oscars, they tend to give the award to films that never where Top 10 box office successes (with the exception of a ground-breaker or two, like Star Wars and Avatar). That can’t be said for the Grammy’s, since it awards popularity over critical merit, and quite frankly that simply isn’t fair.
And personally, it’s not just the electronic elements in pop music that devoid it from any semblance of humanity, it’s also the lack of talent, the monotony of the themes, and the shallowness and lack of any sense of morality that are dominant in pop music that are now crouching into the charts of country. When was the last time you heard a deep and sincere love song in pop radio? Or any song that was actually meaningful in any way and that actually depicted something outside of partying, vice and misogyny? Sure, their is a nice song here and their, but overall I find it to be extremely lacking.
What’s worse is that anyone who dares to do something different, dares to listen to himself instead of the corporate world or what is deemed as popular is relegated to being forgotten in many ways.
October 21, 2014 @ 1:16 pm
Many of the current pop songs have decent themes. Lorde is a good example, as are the multitude of female singers who are preaching the cause of tolerance.
October 21, 2014 @ 1:17 pm
Also, of all of the major awards, I think that the Grammy does the best job of focusing on critical merit rather than popularity. Their country awards, for example, consistently show a higher emphasis on quality than the CMA or especially the ACM.
October 21, 2014 @ 5:28 pm
Actually, pop radio has been producing some pretty good songs with meaning and substance lately. I generally don’t listen to it if I don’t have to, but if I had to choose between pop radio and country radio, I’d choose pop 10 times out of 10.
October 21, 2014 @ 7:06 pm
“I generally don”™t listen to it if I don”™t have to, but if I had to choose between pop radio and country radio, I”™d choose pop 10 times out of 10.”
I am reluctantly beginning to agree with that statement.
This weekend I was in a situation in which I was stuck, for an extended period of time, in a store which apparently plays LOUD mainstream pop radio all day. I don’t particularly care for top 40 pop and am rarely exposed to pop radio, but my main takeaway from that experience was the realization that, yes, pop is currently head and shoulders above country when it comes to substance.
However… I still contend, that that statement is more a reflection of the utter depravity of country radio in the “bro” era than it is a ringing endorsement of pop. For example, I just listened to the Megan Trainor song discussed above, and while it’s an amusing little ditty, at the end of the day it’s still a shallow song about sexy body parts wrapped in a faux-inspirational message about acceptance. The fact that the song can’t even make its point without (predictably) taking the opposite tact of “skinny-shaming” demonstrates the fact that it’s about as deep as the stream behind an outhouse. (Gross… sorry.) Most likely it appeals to the same constituency who think Taylor Swift’s song about “haters gonna hate” is a victory for the human spirit, or feminism or something. Now, I will admit that I’m somewhat baffled by the success of an artist like Lorde, who is actually somewhat creative, and not conventionally attractive, but the way I see it she’s essentially pop music’s “tolerated weirdo.” She’s the stand-in for all the young girls (and guys) who don’t identify with the typical sexed-up pop stars, and the exception that proves the rule when it comes to pop music’s obsession with shallow sexual content, and specifically it’s imposition of hyper-sexualized roles onto female artists.
But mainstream country music currently has zero socially redeeming values, and is the musical equivalent of a nuclear bomb-ravaged wasteland, so pop is still winning.
October 21, 2014 @ 12:06 pm
I disagree about the “respect” point. I used to hate modern pop too, but I have over time come to realize that it is just a fundamentally different sound from what I like, not necessarily an inferior one. I am sure that people were thinking the same thing in the 50’s and 60’s when jazz was replaced by rock.
October 21, 2014 @ 6:45 am
Miranda and Meghan get to sing about their fat asses but Pharrel’s not singing Happy with Luke Bryan??
I’m pissed.
October 21, 2014 @ 6:51 am
Dear CMA,
Please, PLEASE do the Possum a favor and honor his wishes by calling whatever this garbage is on mainstream radio another name. Embarrassed by the title “country,” you’re doing your best to distance yourself from the country name by inviting full-blown pop acts to perform on your show, so why don’t you just take that final step? You’ve already lost your country crowd, so just load that last shotgun shell. We’ll happily take on the country name and not be embarrassed by it.
October 21, 2014 @ 7:17 am
Looks like I’ll be skipping the CMA Awards broadcast for the second year in a row. If I wanted to see pop acts along with country acts I’d watch the Grammys.
October 21, 2014 @ 11:17 am
Could the girl in the picture look any dumber? Good lord, that facial expression makes her look like she needs to go back to school.
October 21, 2014 @ 1:22 pm
No need for personal insults. Just focus on the music!
October 21, 2014 @ 11:25 am
Hey Tigger did you know Angaleena Presley from Pistol Annies has a new album? It would be nice if you could review it.
And about the note, I don’t hate crossovers but I also happen to think like many others here, that they lost a good chance to promote new female country artists.
October 21, 2014 @ 11:55 am
Aw man, I like her. 🙂 She seems more Americana than straight country, but a few tracks on ‘American Middle Class’ kinda reminded me of Brandy Clark’s ’12 Stories.’ Plus I’ve really liked her songs on the two Pistol Annies CDs (“Lemon Drop,” “Housewife’s Prayer,” “Being Pretty Ain’t Pretty,” “Trading One Heartbreak for Another,” etc.).
October 21, 2014 @ 2:30 pm
Yes, I am aware of the album. It’s in the review que.
October 21, 2014 @ 12:25 pm
Bro- Country may be actually dying now please welcome Sleaze Country!!
October 21, 2014 @ 12:59 pm
Cause when I think country, I think Meghan Trainor and Ariana Grande. Oh wait, no. No, I don’t.
If they’re looking for more female blood in country, how bout Kellie Pickler? Sunny Sweeney? Kacey Musgraves? LeAnn Rimes? (Yeah she has a messed up personal life, but that hasn’t hurt Jason Aldean any. Or many other male country stars through the years. DOUBLE STANDARD ALERT.)
These two women are talented, yeah, but what about them says country? Ariana Grande sounds more like Mariah Carey than Tammy Wynette. Why not Katy Perry or Kesha, who at least have some background in country, if they must ignore female country singers in favor of pop? I. DON’T. GET. IT. (Though I do kinda get Miranda singing All About that Bass, it’s a good song and right up her alley. I just wish it was less divisive.)
October 21, 2014 @ 1:31 pm
What time is Jason Isbelle’s performance of “Cover Me Up” going to be on. . . . . . . . . . . Oh yeah, right. . . . . . . . . . .
October 21, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
Man, that Ariana Grande is hot as balls.
October 21, 2014 @ 1:50 pm
I don’t mind either of them, I don’t really listen to either, but if we’re having such a female problem, bring in Ashley Monroe, Terrie Clark, or lesser known artist such as Elizabeth Cook. “Country” music is so set on becoming popular in this country that we do stupid things like this. They wonder why it’s always the same people getting nominated, because they don’t give anyone else a chance! It’s a joke!
October 21, 2014 @ 2:46 pm
I seriously thought this was one of your parody articles, but upon googling it…. Goodness.
October 21, 2014 @ 4:36 pm
Terrible news, I’d expect this type of thing from the CMT Awards, or maybe the American Country Awards or whatever it was on Fox, but not the CMA’s. Damnit.
October 22, 2014 @ 4:28 am
You know what would be a real laugh? If they invited Youtube sensation IceJJFish to perform at the CMAs!!!
October 22, 2014 @ 7:11 am
While there has not been a female in the top 5 on the country charts in a while, on the pop side females have ruled for many many weeks now. Never thought at this point of my life I’d listen to pop more than country, which I can not tolerate anymore.
So sad.
October 22, 2014 @ 7:32 am
I hope LBT and Ariana sing “Bang Bang.” If done correctly, that could be awesome. But I really don’t understand why Ariana is doing a country thing. Her music is targeted at pop and R&B stations and she even recorded a Spanglish version of “The Way” for Spanish pop radio. It seems like she’s aiming at every audience but the country audience. Plus, she grew up in South Florida which is one of the few areas of the US where country isn’t super popular so it’s not like she can say she grew up listening to it. Either way, she’s better than most current country artists so whatever.
October 22, 2014 @ 8:05 am
I believe it’s been announced Little Big Town will be singing “Day Drinking” with Ariana Grande.
October 22, 2014 @ 2:23 pm
Okay Day Drinking does not at all fit Ariana’s persona or vocal style. Maybe she will do the whistling part. LBT and Ariana doing a Bang Bang country remix would be way cooler.
October 22, 2014 @ 2:43 pm
Also, “Day Drinking” totally sucks.
… Just wanted to point that out.
October 22, 2014 @ 6:13 pm
Good point.
October 22, 2014 @ 8:06 am
Honestly, stories like this do not surprise me anymore. And it is not going to get any better. The corporate music production empire has decreed this is the new normal, and it is only going to get worse.
Although I will admit that Zac Brown performing War Pigs with Dave Grohl was a nice change to this. The only thing that would top it, in my opinion, would be Steve Earle performing with Mayhem (I always said that Steve Earle was the Euronymous of country music due to his politics) on the Letterman show…a guy can dream.
October 23, 2014 @ 11:55 am
SWEEET! 😀 I’M EXCITED!!! LOVE THIS SONG! OMG!!
October 23, 2014 @ 11:57 am
ALL ABOUT THAT BASS BOUT THAT BASS NO TREBLE ;D
October 24, 2014 @ 4:00 pm
Carrie Underwood should’ve done a better job if she is a pop artist rather than a country artist because she won an American Idol contest in 2005 and her music rarely have any country music references. Plus, Something In The Water wasn’t popular on country radio. Something In The Water should be played on pop radio. But no, country music screwed over Carrie Underwood letting Carrie Underwood unable to release her orchistrated pop music to pop radio. Why can pop radio play Carrie Underwood songs instead of country radio like Two Black Cadillacs? Carrie Underwood needs orchistrated pop music, not country music. Let’s hope Carrie Underwood will be making her first Christian pop album after getting her first child and her greatest hits album. Carrie Underwood needs to leave country and move to pop after her greatest hits album and getting her first child at the same time. Pop music needs Carrie Underwood, not country music.