The Way To Express Emotion

Country music is a kind of pop music that originated in the southern United States in the early 1920s. Country music is characterized by simple tunes, smooth rhythm, and narrative. At the same time, people can get into love with it because country music has strong local flavor and friendly elements. The singer’s voice is the symbol of country music because the singer has the accent in their music works. Country music takes roots from multiple genres such as folk music. Most of its songs are building around three chords and a plain melody, they allow for many different styles to combine with it.  Therefore, country music has lots of styles to express. Country pop, a subgenre of country music, try to combine with pop music elements to attract people. “RCA Records producer Chet Atkins was the most important figure in the initial cross-breeding of country and pop, creating a sound that was dubbed “countrypolitan” for its blend of rural sensibility and urban sophistication. Because the melodies and song structures of country music were usually very simple and catchy, they worked well when placed in a pop-oriented format” (AllMusic) These are examples of country pop “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift, “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum and “Bless The Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts.

Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts are three country-pop singers whose emerged in nowadays. Although they have different styles to perform music works, all of their music containing the same element that allows it to be categorized into the country-pop subgenre. The same deductive way but portray a different theme to express emotion. Taylor Swift is a typical Country music singer. Her song “You Belong With Me” its content is convincing boys to discover the charm of every girl around them. In the lyrics, this song belongs to a  narrative song that Taylor seems to tell a story. In terms of music style, this is a fast song and focus on the whole song’s melody. The main instruments of the song are banjo and the electric guitar to integrate into country-pop music and bring out Taylor’s voice. In the music structure, the song adjusts to G major and follows by F–C–G-B chord to make people to remember the song. Taylor takes the way of narrative to tell a love theme. Lady Antebellum was founded in 2006. Their song “Need You Now” tells the story of missing that a pair of lovers who have already broken up, can’t hide their desire for love, leaving a confession at the opponent’s answering machine at midnight. The beginning of piano adds some blues feel to the whole song. The repetition of the song shows lover longing for good memories to another lover and makes the listener feel an unprecedented resonance. The vocals voice and the electric guitars show the emotion change from each section. In Rascal Flatts “Bless The Broken Road” is talking about the god theme. The song grows more emotion of hope from the lyrics that listener can feel in the same way. Like Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts starts with the piano to catch the audience’s attention. Also, multiple voices of vocals with guitar accompaniment enrich the emotional expression of music work. Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts as a band, their songs use the style of contemporary country to narrate the emotional expressing from lyrics and with the guitar to perform that incorporates both heavily pop-influenced styles to define their songs are the style of country pop. The addition of popular elements in country music makes people accepted the country pop and country music artists are transitioning from the popular voice of the country. “Artists also face a tension between engaging with popular trends and conveying a sense of connection to country’s lineage and core values. Over time, they both made convincing cases that redefining what country superstardom looked, sounded and behaved like didn’t undermine their country affinities — that their broader ambitions needn’t threaten their places in the format.”(National Public Radio) The combine with country music and pop music that caters the need of audiences. Singer falls into the country-pop subgenre to share their different music style that illustrates their different themes of country pop.

All in all, Country pop as the subgenre of country music. The addition of pop music in country music creates loved and accepted by people. At the same time, multiple elements in a country music show the popular trend as the period change and the development of the music field. Even though country pop artists create different perform ways in their album, they are sharing the same musical elements in the subgenre of country pop, their songs tell a different theme which is expressing emotion from the song. Country pop is a kind of lyric music makes people produce sympathetic response and hope.

Works Cite:

1. “Country Pop”, All Music, https://www.allmusic.com/search/articles/country+pop
2. Jewly Hight, “How The Sound Of Country Music Changed”, NPR Music, 20 March, 2018.https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/03/20/594037569/how-the-sound-of-country-music-changed