In 1994, the country singer Alan Jackson released a hit country song about country songs by non-country singers. Instead of criticizing these new arrivals, he just chuckled. “The whole world’s gone country,” Jackson sang, and in the video he flashed a sly smile, as if he were wondering what took ’em so long. Country music always seems to be swinging in and out of fashion, and thirty years later Jackson’s claim is truer than ever. Taylor Swift, who was a country singer before she was a pop leviathan, remains perhaps the most beloved performer in the world. Beyoncé topped the album chart with “Cowboy Carter,” which was both a tribute to country music and a critique of it; she “redefined a genre and reclaimed country music’s Black roots,” according to one fan, who also happens to be the Vice-President of the United States. Shaboozey, a Nigerian American singer who appeared on “Cowboy Carter,” has been ubiquitous this summer with “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” a twangy update of a twenty-year-old hip-hop hit. Lana Del Rey, one of the most beguiling voices in popular music, is promising to release her first country-inspired album, “Lasso,” next month. “The music business,” she said, earlier this year, is “going country.”
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