As I write this article, I’m listening to my pride of place country music playlist – one I have carefully curated over the past few years – entitled, 'Cowboy Take Me Away'. If this was an Instagram stories caption, I would have followed that up with a gloating 'IYKYK' caption, but the year is 2024 and everyone is about to know because, giddy up, country is coming.
I am very rarely ahead of the cool curve, so as a long-time country music – let me bask in this for a moment. My dad introduced me to country music when I was about 10 years old (not exactly what comes to mind as the soundtrack to an Indian household) via the women dominating the genre in the 1990s. The Dixie Chicks (now rebranded to just The Chicks after they publicly criticised President George W. Bush in 2003 and triggered waves of backlash and hate), Faith Hill, Reba McEntire, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Shania Twain (who coincidentally has the prized Hyde Park spot this summer), and of course, Dolly, were our rolodex of favourites. While pre-teens of my generation were scrambling to buy Britney Spears’ first single, I was plugged in to Women In Country Volumes 1-3.
FIND OUT MORE ON ELLE COLLECTIVE
No one understood our fascination with country music and Americana, definitely not my peers and definitely not my mum whose blood runs strictly Motown. Given the stereotypes that surrounded traditional country music – white male singers warbling about love, loss, whiskey, God, beer, trucks, women and the Land of the Free (in that order, specifically) – I understood why. It felt old-fashioned, unrelatable to a British audience, and sometimes just overwhelmingly sad (those songs were our favourites).
Country music has always been about the narrative. The backbone of the genre rests in the lyricism, and as the narrow confines of that have been gradually expanding over the last decade or so to include more than the aforementioned topics, a new audience has realised that country music is broader than Honky Tonks, cowboy hats, and a pair of well-worn boots.
Which leads us to today, where the boom is country music and surrounding fandom is so loud it’s inescapable. In true Beyoncé-loves-a-mic-drop style, the artist teased at the Super Bowl that she would be dropping an entire country album in spring of this year, with 'Texas Hold ‘Em' (and naturally, a corresponding dance) clocking up 'likes' on social media. A far cry from the redneck country music stereotype, Beyoncé (of 'Houston, Texas baby' origin) is actually as country as it gets. If you’re not convinced, watch her performance of 'Daddy Lessons' with The Chicks at 2016’s Country Music Awards, and there will be no doubt that Bey is country to her core. However, people have been quick to disassociate Black artists with country music, and herein lies the ignorance of the genre – country was born from hymns lifted from Black ministers in the South. White country music was popularised as a way to make the genre more respected and more profitable, but Black artists are a big reason why country is back in the eye of the zeitgeist and with a more contemporary audience.
Lil Nas X famously sampled Billy Ray Cryus’ country croons on his gold and platinum record, 'Old Town Road', Pharrell Williams’ second menswear collection for Louis Vuitton saw more cowboys motifs than a bar on Nashville’s Broadway, country newcomer, Britnney Spencer is making waves for all the right reasons, and at this year’s Grammy’s Tracey Chapman performed a beautiful version of her hit song 'Fast Car' with country music star Luke Combs after his cover of the song made Chapman the first Black woman to score a country music number one with a solo composition. Oh, and if you haven’t seen T-Pain’s rendition of Chris Stapleton’s 'Tennessee Whiskey', run.
The liberalisation of contemporary country music is what is pushing this genre up the barometer now, and dispelling stereotypes at the same time. Just last night I went to see Noah Kahan at Wembley Ovo Arena, and while he treads the line of indie-folk and country music, his authenticity in using his voice to talk about mental health (as well as love and loss etc), has pushed the genre firmly into a Gen Z camp. Similarly, Tyler Childers, one of the most exciting country music artists right now, released his latest song 'In Your Love' with an accompanying music video that represented the LGBTQIA+ community in an incredibly touching way. Childers was unsurprisingly rebuffed in parts of America for going against the traditional country grain, and simultaneously welcomed in other parts with listeners able to see him as not only an ally but someone creaking open the door to what it means to be 'country'.
Of course, so much of what it means to be country is rooted in the fashion, and that is categorically going nowhere. Much in part to Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour that saw silver cowboy hats because the accessory of the summer, the trend remains this year with Kim Kardashian donning a cowboy hat to the Superbowl, street style stars giddied up to Copenhagen Fashion Week in stomping cowboy boots, and everyone from Ganni to Celine offering up an iteration.
Country music can be so easily dismissed as naff and repetitive, and I don’t deny that there are possibly one too many songs about tequila, but it is also exciting, charming, and has an intimacy to it that makes you feel as though that voice on the radio (because yes, even BBC’s Radio One is playing Zach Bryan now), is telling you the story of their life straight from the campfire. Country music doesn’t rely on big production (most artists I have seen live had balled onto stage in the most cliched jeans and a plaid shirt), and it doesn’t hold back from being painfully honest – something in this 'everything must look perfect' world that feels quite necessary right now. So buckle in, saddle up, and get ready for the rodeo of your life, because there is so much country coming your way.
ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.
