Joanne Is Country

[ApplauseftAdele 4,730]

I feel like country is more of an aesthetic rather than a style in a sense.

like take for example the country hit song Meant To Be. If you listen to ONLY Bebe rexha’s verse, it just sounds like a pop song. The only thing that makes the rest of the song country isn’t even the melody or instrumental, but the lyrics and accent of the singer. Kacey Musgraves is barely country, only because she sings primarily about horses and bars (if someone like Adele sang Rainbow it wouldn’t be country just because Adele is not a country artist .)  Hell, Joanne sounds like a song that belongs perfectly on golden hour. 

 

In Gaga’s case, her album is made for a country voice - imagine a singer with a country twang singing her songs (Kacey Musgraves, Luke Bryan). It would sound like a perfect country song down to the subject matter (leather, cars, horses, Americans, mountains...).

Again, Country is more of an aesthetic more than just a sound. If Old Town Road was about cars instead of horses and cowboys, it would be trap. In Gaga’s case, her music is country it just doesn’t sound FULL country because she’s not gonna fake a country accent. But imagine someone with a country accent singing like every song on Joanne besides PI and Angel Down maybe. It’s country PERIODT. 

[KatieJudasGaga4 67,907]

I disagree. And I find it funny because on the other thread, some people called Come to Mama country.  

Again, there are country vibes to it, but it isn't full on country.

[Gam 19,695]

No

[FfFfFfFF 55,263]

Mean To Be is not a good example since it's crealy pop at its core. Some say it's country-pop, some even deny it being anything else than pop. Nowadays, in the mainstream pop world country may be used for image and we've seen with all the many albums that followed Joanne and Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves  pushing the boundaries between pop and country, but country is still a distinct genre.

Also, the influences on Joanne are rather sporadic, appear only on certain tracks. It's not enough for it to considered full on country.

[Bradley 58,852]

Wikipedia registers Shallow as a country song, just saying.

[AlexanderMagno 10,746]

I'm not a country fan, but I disagree. Country is not just aesthetics, it's sound as well. Just because nowadays musicians mix genres doesn't mean they don't exist individually.

Country is American folk music. It can be dance and it can be ballads, it has a lot of strings instruments, and uses jazz scales very frequently. Joanne is not 100% country, but it has a lot of country (probably 50%).

[KatieJudasGaga4 67,907]

39 minutes ago, Bradley said:

Wikipedia registers Shallow as a country song, just saying.

I've seen Shallow's wikipedia page so much that the genres keep on changing and wouldn't be surprised that it would later be changed to rap.

[A Hybrid 11,049]

I think artists and labels know a music’s genre better than you, especially if it’s not about the sound

[SOON 4,058]

Sinner's Prayer is the most country-ish song on the album and maybe Joanne too, but the rest is pop. Overall it's a pop album. 

[mauvais 0]

I get why people are inclined to label any music with guitars as country, but folk, psychedelic rock, and desert rock and rockabilly are not country. There's no need to oversimplify the sound of Joanne because she literally worked with musicians who are synonymous with the aforementioned rock genres. Also, your mention of subject matter reminds me of my favorite Gaga quote, "I'm not a feminist. I hail men, I love men. I celebrate American male culture, and beer, and bars and muscle cars…"  She obviously knew what she was doing invoking 'American male culture' in Joanne and ASIB but habitually falling for alcoholics doesn't make John Wayne or Shallow country imo. 

[Bradley 58,852]

39 minutes ago, KatieJudasGaga4 said:

I've seen Shallow's wikipedia page so much that the genres keep on changing and wouldn't be surprised that it would later be changed to rap.

I actually don't think genres can be clearly defined. Musicians bend the rules all the time to create songs that are fusions of multiple genres.

The genre itself isn't too important, as long as it sounds great.

Tony Bennett was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance last year, competing against Gaga. It just shows how fluid these things are.

[AMENiCURE 9,381]

if the producers said its country-pop then it is country pop.

/thread

[ZiggyZiggs 30,056]

It’s got country elements but it’s also got Americana, rock, glam, funk, and alternative elements too lol , it’s a pop record through and through just gaga’s Version of pop

[GhettoFabulous 18,501]

Country pop at most it’s still pop  it may not be the busy popping electro pop but it’s still pop I mean...it’s pop/rock record with some country influences cuz the only “country” songs on the album are IMO a-yo and sinners prayer the rest seems pretty pop 

[LibraOctober98 3,495]

Joanne was a person not a country. Silly silly silly