Nada’s Country: Crossing Those Lines
By: Nada
There are a few things that you probably shouldn’t really mix together: water and cereal; Taylor Swift and Katy Perry (or Miley Cyrus, or Nicki Minaj, or…); Crocs and, well, everything...
But, then there are things that do mix so well together...
In the late 90s — and to me, still — Shania Twain was queen. Everyone knew the words to “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” and everywhere you turned, there she was in her epic leopard jumpsuit that will forever live on in all its glory.
If you don’t believe me, please see evidence of her royalty:
But really, back then she had the top-selling country album of all time. Of all time! She also made that walk across radio lines from country to Top 40 and killed it. But just like a lot of artists now, she got a whole lotta heat for it. The issue, of course, is there should be no issue with this.
The Top 40/pop genre = popular music. So really, why is it a problem these days when a country artist “crosses over”? This old-school mindset needs to change and clearly, these artists get it:
Little Big Town Bring Tori Kelly on Stage to sing “Should’ve Been Us”
Taylor ain’t the only one that can bring out guests on tour. And let me tell you, Little Big Town singing alone is great, but Little Big Town singing with Tori Kelly? Too. Good. Hearing Karen scream, “Just wait for the Grammy awards!” makes my toes tingle every time.
Luke Bryan Karaokes “Want You To Want Me” With Jason DeRulo
We all knew Luke’s Boom Boom skills were on point, but seriously the guy can hit those high notes (while thrusting in a selfie karaoke video, no less!). Luke and Jason may be an unlikely mashup, but I’m kinda hoping we see more from these two—and soon.
Craig Campbell Goes “Boy Bander” On Us With A One Direction Cover
When you think One Direction, you think baby daddy drama or Harry’s infamous hair, or you cry thinking about Zayn leaving. I can def guarantee you don’t think of Craig Campbell. But when you hear him sing “Steal My Girl” on piano, it sounds so natural and so right, you’ll think 1D stole it from him.
Bonus: him singing John Legend’s “All of Me.” OK, Craig. OK. We see you.
Dan + Shay + Nick Jonas
There was a lot of leather and a lot of high hair on the ACMs stage in Dallas this year thanks to three handsome men — Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney and Nick Jonas. The guys collaborated to give one of the best, most-talked about performances of the night, mixing Dan + Shay’s Top 15 song “Nothing Like You” with Jonas’ No. 1 hit “Jealous.”
It may have been Dan’s tight, white pants that made the performance, but I’ll stick to the music aspect of this.
Let’s just also take a second to admire a time when Shay and I had matching hair:
Kelsea Ballerini Sings Rihanna And Slays
This girl could not have a better year. She just got two CMA noms, parties with Taylor Swift and had her debut song go No. 1. Not only is Kelsea one of my favorite people but she’s got an insane voice — proof is in this cover of Rihanna’s "Take A Bow" she did exclusively for the Bobby Bones Show.
Banner image by Hector Maha / Getty Images
