Following liberal country music singer Maren Morris’s departure from country music last year, fans of the genre were interviewed on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, for their opinion on the controversy. Among the varied reactions, many said “good riddance” to Morris, noting that her politics would not be missed from the mostly conservative genre of music.
As background, Morris had previously announced that she would be leaving country music, while blasting how the genre supposedly morphed during “the Trump years.” The singer said, “After the Trump years, people’s biases were on full display. It just revealed who people really were and that they were proud to be misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic. All these things were being celebrated, and it was weirdly dovetailing with this hyper-masculine branch of country music. I call it butt rock.”
Furthermore, after numerous chart-topping conservative-themed country songs being released in recent years, such as Jason Aldean’s famous”Try That in a Small Town,” Morris asserted they were being streamed “out of spite,” suggesting that the music didn’t actually resonate with some listeners.“People are streaming these songs out of spite,” Morris said.
She further criticized the overtly conservative themes from country music stars, adding, “It’s not out of true joy or love of the music. It’s to own the libs. And that’s so not what music is intended for. Music is supposed to be the voice of the oppressed — the actual oppressed. And now it’s being used as this really toxic weapon in culture wars.”
One person interviewed about the news in Nashville said, “It’s amazing just to me that this girl who’s out in touch with reality would leave country music for that good riddance. I mean, I say good riddance.” Another person noted that Morris has every right to go into a different genre if she so chooses. “We’re the freest country in the world. So she has every right to feel like that go into a different genre,” he said.
Another individual suggested Morris was the latest example of wokeness taking over culture, stating, “I think everything’s turning woke anymore. And this is just another example of woke. If somebody sticks up for what they want get crucified. It’s not right.” Other suggested that entertainers should avoid politics altoghether. “Entertainers, all stay out of the political end and just entertain people and do their job,” one woman said. However, some defended Morris in her exodus from country music. “Good for her, honestly, I meant standing up for what she believes, regardless of what the backlash is,” another woman said.
One musician who was interviewed claimed that Morris didn’t perform real country to begin with, pointing out that one could find more authentic examples of the genre if they looked for it in Nashville. “I don’t really believe she was country anyway. She was already. It was pop, if you want to hear real country come down and to certain places in Nashville and you’ll find real country music,” he said, leaning off the stage of a live music venue.
Watch the reactions below:
Featured image credit: UKinUSA from Washington, D.C., USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gershwin_Prize_2024_(53602170779).jpg
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