Kelly Clarkson Has Concerns About Country Music: ‘Y’all Don’t Play People With Boobs’
Kelly Clarkson isn't holding anything back. In a new Q&A to promote the pop star and The Voice coach's new talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Clarkson went on an extended rant about where the country music landscape lies in today's music spectrum.
While the interview was all in good fun, Clarkson wasn't totally playing around. In a fun game, the host read internet slang terms, which brought up "farm emo" came up. Clarkson says that the term means " a very sad country person" who dresses similar to the '90s band the Cure's frontman Robert Smith when the "crops aren't coming in."
One of the producers then explains to Clarkson that the term is actually used to describe country music. She is visibly surprised at first, but begins to describe the current state of country music.
“You know why? Because country music doesn’t sound country anymore,” Clarkson says. “So they’re making up terms to be like, ‘This is country.’ Country music is gone. I don’t know who’s making it, but there might be like four people."
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Clarkson particularly emphasizes the "weird word rap" that is more prevalent in today's country music market. "Why are you rapping in country music? I don’t understand it. I mean, let’s be progressive, I get it, but come on," she says. "And it’s not just one. It’s a lot of y’all. And it’s bad."
The sometimes-country singer and daughter-in-law to Reba McEntire also took aim at the more notable incorporation of pop influences in today's country music, detailing the comments she faced when she began walking the roads of country music on her duet with Jason Aldean, "Don't You Wanna Stay."
"I love that when I started to do country, they were like, ‘Oh you’re pop. You’re not country enough.’ I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, let me show you this list of the Top 20,’ which by the way did not include one female," she recalls.
While Clarkson admits that she is not trying to get played on country radio, she does encourage fans to dig out their old '80s and '90s country music albums to rediscover how country music really sounds. The singer insists that she is mad, because she is simply a fan of country music and grew up listening to it.
Her biggest grievance, though? The lack of women being played on country music stations across the country.
“Y’all don’t play people with boobs either, [but] it’s fine. ‘Oh you got boobs, you’re not a man, get out of here.’ What happened? Do you want me to go off on how many women were so monumental in my [career]?" she asks. McEntire, Shania Twain, Martina McBride and Terri Clark are among those who inspired her early in her career.
“What is happening in country music? This is what’s happening. Y’all aren’t playing country music anymore," she furthers.
Clarkson will appear on The Voice alongside Blake Shelton starting on Sept. 23. The Kelly Clarkson Show will also air its first episode on Monday, Sept. 9.
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