{"id":25408,"date":"2015-05-07T01:45:33","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T22:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ngradio.gr\/?p=25408"},"modified":"2015-05-07T01:45:33","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T22:45:33","slug":"country-music-cant-quit-taylor-swift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ngradio.gr\/en\/news-el\/music-en\/country-music-cant-quit-taylor-swift\/","title":{"rendered":"Country music can’t quit Taylor Swift"},"content":{"rendered":"

…\u00a0but it’s trying to move on!<\/p>\n

Taylor Swift may have gotten her start in country music, but she made it pretty darn clear in the lead-up to the release of her blockbuster album 1989 that she considers herself a pop artist these days. \u201cI don\u2019t really think people were surprised I made a pop album,\u201d she admitted to HITS<\/a>. \u201cI think they were surprised I was honest about it.\u201d Swift\u2019s full embrace of pop was on full display with the launch of her stadium-sized 1989 World Tour<\/a> on Tuesday night in Tokyo. With a dozen glittery, midriff-baring costumes; strobing laser effects; and neon bracelets that were synced to light up with the pulsating beats of the show, her debut 1989 concert was, like all of Swift\u2019s tours, an outright spectacle. It looked as shimmery and effervescent as any great pop show should be.<\/p>\n

And yet, even as Swift is rubbing elbows with Justin Timberlake<\/a> and allegedly feuding with Katy Perry<\/a>, country music is working its hardest to reel her back in. Like that sad boyfriend that just can\u2019t get over his ex (a situation Swift has chronicled in song more than once), Nashville is bending over backwards to win back music\u2019s golden girl and looking more than a little desperate in the process.<\/p>\n

\"TOKYO,<\/a>
TOKYO, JAPAN – MAY 06: Taylor Swift performs during The 1989 World Tour at Tokyo Dome at Tokyo Dome on May 6, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Jun Sato\/Getty Images for TS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two weeks ago, the Academy of Country Music Awards<\/a>essentially strong-armed Swift into appearing at the annual ceremony by awarding her with a Milestone award. Swift accepted her award gracefully, though she was notably the only one of the seven recipients to not perform at the event. And last week, John Dickey, the VP of Cumulus Media, boasted that his company was going to start playing Swift\u2019s new pop singles on country stations. \u201cWhy let the Top 40 stations have a monopoly on the biggest artist on the planet because she wanted to creatively expand her horizons? It\u2019s crazy,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cWe are back in the Taylor business.\u201d<\/p>\n

How much does Taylor Swift<\/a> want country music\u2019s affection in 2015? That\u2019s tough to say, and Swift\u2019s far too savvy ever to admit whether she\u2019s frustrated that the genre won\u2019t respect her move to pop. But we\u2019ll see how it all plays out in the next few months, especially when the 1989 world tour reaches America.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, country music is working hard to find its next Swift, and labels are pushing a new crop of young women that they\u2019re hoping can fill the massive void left by the star and attract a young female audience to the format. Of course, country music is not a very welcoming place for women at the moment, but here are a few of the industry\u2019s favoured candidates:<\/p>\n

Kelsea Ballerini<\/strong>
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