Why are the charts currently dominated by male country and rap?
vox.com/culture CULTURE It says a lot about the state of the music industry right now that some fans are counting on Katy Perryâs comeback to deliver the pop moment of the year. The outlook isn't good! The Billboard Hot 100 every week is even more telling, as the country is largely captivated by male country artists and rappers. As I explore in [this piece](, one has to wonder if pop fans are getting tired of the 2010s class of female singers or, rather, exhausted by the rigorous demands of female pop. Now more than ever, female pop stars are being held to the notion of âeras,â an expectation that they reinvent themselves artistically with every new album release and have a compelling personal narrative to draw people in. Itâs not something we demand from men. And as artists like Post Malone, Morgan Wallen, and Ed Sheeran demonstrate, we seem to appreciate them for their consistency and, well, basicness. Meanwhile, the excitement around newer artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan shows an excitement for a simpler mode of pop, focused largely on silliness and fun. Can these two rescue pop on their own? âKyndall Cunningham//link.vox.com/click/36025552.7469/aHR0cHM6Ly94LmNvbS9jb25zdGFuY2VncmFkeT91ZWlkPTNhNTA3ZmY1ZmYzNzViYTNjYWU5MjFkMzUzMTNiN2Nk/6094319a7418d377a33af3d5Bd5d5eb4e writer Why are so many female pop stars flopping? [a photo of Camilla Cabello with blonde hair and glasses, holding a Bacardi branded cup]( Dave Benett/Getty Images for BAC Female pop stars have been throwing new personas at the wall: Eight years after her iconic CMAs performance, Beyoncé made a hard, star-spangled turn to country. Ariana Grande traded in her usual R&B bangers for an Imogen Heap-inspired album. Dua Lipa left the dance floor for some chill, vacation bops. And Camila Cabello is determined to be the next princess of hyperpop, taking an uncomfortable amount of inspiration from Charli XCX. Recently, [the pop landscape has been unusually crowded.]( In addition to the aforementioned artists, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, and Normani have all released new albums in the span of just four months. However, you wouldnât necessarily know it looking at the most steady songs on the Billboard Hot 100 this year. This is not to ignore the accomplishments of Sabrina Carpenter, whose latest single âPlease Please Pleaseâ sat at No. 1 last week. (More on that later.) However, itâs hard not to notice what kind of music seems to be making the biggest impression right now â rap and country â and whoâs experiencing success in these genres: men. The demand for these beloved genres isnât surprising, especially after Billboardâs country takeover last year, and given that Kendrick Lamar has been embroiled in a compelling feud with Drake. Still, this male-dominated moment feels glaring as so many [established female singers compete for attention in the pop space.]( Are listeners exhausted by the current state of female pop, with all its rigorous demands and obsession with âerasâ? Is the predictability of someone like country singer Morgan Wallen what it takes to chart? [Read the full story »]( The glorious return of the skort How skorts became cool again, as explained by Challengers and Taylor Swift. [Read the full story »]( What do we do about Alice Munro now? Reckoning with the late author and Nobel Prize winnerâs complicity in her daughterâs abuse. [Read the full story »]( [Become a Vox Member]( Support our journalism â become a Vox Member and youâll get exclusive access to the newsroom with members-only perks including newsletters, bonus podcasts and videos, and more. [Join our community]( More good stuff to read today - [How do you know itâs time to retire?](
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