When a storm comes, there are always signs, always hints in the air, that sense of uneasiness that things are about to get real dramatic. People might not believe that bigger things are on their way at first, dismissing any rain or strong winds that playfully tease at their incoming larger siblings, scoffing at weather reports that warn of what’s to come while outside seems warm and sunny. Of course, it becomes increasingly apparent that these occurrences are not anomalies, and eventually it’s time to take cover, or get caught up in the midst of it.
As we sidle cautiously into Summer 2015, it is the brewing EDM/Rap shitstorm that we must be concerned with in the realms of mainstream country music. After the hickhop, the faux-rock and the auto-tune, Jerrod Niemann jumped into the market with ‘Drink To That All Night’, and it wasn’t long before Sam Hunt proved the new style was more than a single novelty track, turning it into a burgeoning career that has seen him outsell many of his more established contemporaries. Combining pop, R&B, hip hop and EDM for a sound that is as un-country as it is perhaps possible to get, he has already been welcomed into the format with open arms, fresh off his second country radio #1 and set to hold his ground in a genre he doesn’t belong within. Of course, in the wake of his popularity others have been keen to emulate the electronic sounds present in his music, including the likes of new artist Kelsea Ballerini, Tim McGraw (in all fairness, that monstrosity came before Sam), Florida Georgia Line (although still firmly bro-country, the EDM influence on their present album is hard to ignore), Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Eli Young Band and even Zac Brown Band, who step even further outside of the box on their eclectic new album ‘Jekyll + Hyde’. What’s more, as we survey new cuts, new singles, and new hits, we notice a gradual shift in terms of where the music is being pitched, and it’s no coincidence that some country radio stations are beginning to add bonafide pop songs to their playlists.
What that increasing meshing of country and pop (as well as other genres) means is that not only are labels looking the find the next Carrie Underwood, say, or the next Miranda Lambert, or the next Brad Paisley, but they are also now looking for the next Bruno Mars (Thomas Rhett is amusingly vying for that one), the next Sam Smith, maybe the next Beyonce. Far-fetched as it may sound now, mainstream country has proven that it is capable of the unsightly and the ridiculous. Even the eternal quest of finding the next Taylor Swift now has wider implications for the artist she has turned into. So who, you ask, is the next “country” version (read: direct copycat exploiting a market) of a hit artist? The answer lies in Haley Georgia.
Ms. Georgia is a 19-year-old Texas native with closer musical ties to Iggy Azalea, Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj than Miranda or Carrie. She is, in fact, being billed as country music’s Ke$ha, for some reason under the illusion that that was something the world needed. And although I previously theorized that Kelsea Ballerini was the female match for Sam Hunt in today’s format, the straight-talking, abrasive rapping of Haley Georgia is far more akin to the super-hip Mr. Hunt and his party mixtapes. In fact, her debut single ‘Ridiculous’ sets out a narrative that could almost be an answer song to one of his various storylines dictating the love lives of uber-cool urban twenty-somethings. “Remember us making out with me in your car,” she spouts. “Cop light flashing in the window… sitting chilling on your hood all night”. But then, “flirting with my friend, buying her a shot and writing your name on a napkin, making plans for the weekend.” Essentially the track boils down to the popular internet phrase among teenagers, “this could be us but you playin’”.
However, that’s hardly the most irritating aspect about ‘Ridiculous’, as that lies in the wordplay used on the hook. “You’re ridic, you’re ridic, you’re ridiculous,” she raps in that obnoxious white-girl tone, drawing specific attention to how “you’re ridic” sounds just like “you’re a dick”. Too, she hardly breaks into an actual melody throughout the entire song (which luckily ends at a measly 2:47), preferring to stick to that rhythmic drone complete with nasal delivery. Built from drum loops, vocal edits and synths, there is a hint of electric guitar on the mess of the chorus, but it’s hard to tell whether that is also electronically-produced (the same can be said for the ping of a faux-mandolin). Haley transports us from the sparse and cold digital space of the verses to the chaotic, unpolished whine of the choruses, not really pulling off either with any kind of merit but instead providing an injustice to all the styles she’s poorly appropriating. I find it amusing that she identifies as country (and even did so as far back as fall 2012, when she auditioned for American Idol) since the only vague reference to the genre is in the token repetition of “cowgirl clothes”, but it does just go to show what country labels are reducing themselves to because they think it’ll sell. Yes, Haley Georgia recently signed with EMI Nashville.
Some months ago she was brought to my attention via the news of that crass wordplay, and I was intrigued to hear how a young, unfiltered female artist who is unafraid to be blunt in her lyrics might fare in the country market. Although knowing she was being marketed as country’s Ke$ha, I couldn’t help but wonder if she could pull it off a la Kacey Musgraves. Unfortunately, when the song was released a few weeks ago, it quickly became apparent that she couldn’t.
The trouble is that Sam Hunt, while not country, is a decent enough pop/hip hop artist. I can appreciate that. Haley doesn’t seem to be doing anything well, and she certainly can’t sing. True, the song is moderately catchy and I suspected that she would be a huge hit with fans of non-country music and those who are only listening to country radio for the pop copycats. But after seeing a snapshot of fan reactions to the track, it’s hard to find one person with something positive to say. That’s not a good sign; particularly as at the very least, a style like bro-country does at least have a faithful fan base and it is not at all hard to find those celebrating it. The same goes for other EDM and hip hop-influenced “country” music.
Only time will tell, but Haley Georgia could well go straight down the drain. Still, that doesn’t mean that this is over. In fact, where we might have attributed Sam Hunt to the “anomaly” early wave of the storm that we are quick to dismiss in my initial metaphor, maybe it is Haley, because I don’t see this push towards electronic and urban sounds slowing down any time soon. This is just the beginning.
