Country music is having a moment, and unsurprisingly, there are some new faces at the forefront of its breakthrough, — faces like Beyoncé’s, Shaboozey’s, and Tanner Adell’s. However, there’s one pioneer in the genre who doesn’t quite feel like he got the same love as they’re receiving now.
In a May 19 interview with BBC, Lil Nas X said that he was “happy” for the country music successes of artists like Beyoncé and Shaboozey, but that he feels a little left out. “I wish this would have happened for me,” he said. “I wasn’t even able to experience this.”
Nas appears to be referring to the reception of his breakout hit “Old Town Road,” which despite breaking records on the Billboard Hot 100 as the longest-running No. 1 ever, was never truly embraced by the country music establishment. The song was actually pulled from the country music chart initially for not sounding “country” enough, and received a chilly reception from country radio programmers. It did go on to win a CMA Award, but not without controversy.
And while Beyoncé may have had a rough road onto those country trails, it took far less fussing and fighting for her single “Texas Hold ‘Em” to enter country airplay after her label reviewed its metadata, and her album Cowboy Carter was widely well-received, landing at No. 1 in its first week despite the big change in sound for Beyoncé.
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