I want to first preface this by saying there isn't anything wrong with you if you do like country music. It's a personal taste and I do not share it. Too many people conflate an opinion on music, especially, as some sort of moral test. One is more legitimate if one prefers one kind of music over another, and they talk about the virtues of one kind of music and the fans of said music have. A genre of music is not and cannot be more virtuous than any other, and if you believe it can, then you are pompous. Country simply doesn't sound right to my ear, and that is OK, just as if hip hop or grunge or whatever doesn't sound right to yours.
Because I titled the post this way, I figure you expect an explanation. Sure, I'll give it to you. Die hard country fans espouse the lyrics and the instrumentation, the originality of the music. I don't want to put words in your mouth if you are a fan, so I'm just going off of common refrains that I have heard. I am going off of my taste, and arguing with anonymous voices that may or may not reflect your opinion. I'm trying to be very diplomatic here, over something that really makes people salty.
I find the lyrics of country songs to be too saccharine for my taste. More broadly, most that point to lyrics as something they appreciate in a song do so because they find the words to be relatable. I don't relate to country music. I grew up in suburbs, went to school in the city and am rather cynical. Country lyrics ring a bit treacly to me. I roll my eyes instead of enjoying the sentiment.
Some country songs border on pop or rock, depending on whether or not the instruments accompanying the lead guitars are fiddles or not. I don't like the way fiddles sound. If you remove the fiddle and replace it with a powerful bass line, it will definitely sound better to me, but at that point, is it really country anymore? I'm honestly asking, because I'm not sure where the line is.
The originality thing isn't really an issue for me. Country is no more or less original than any other brand of music. Thematically, most songs are the same, which is true in any genre, though those themes are the same. Country is just as prone to covering previously performed songs as rock or pop, and in my view, covering someone else's song isn't that different from sampling, which is often performed in hip hop. What I'm saying is that Country doesn't distinguish itself in my view on originality. This wouldn't matter much, but the themes and tone it sticks to generally don't appeal to me, and I don't identify with them.
Now all of that said, and this is the important part of this post: I have come to have so much respect for the talent of country singers. When they want to, they definitely can make a foray into another genre of music. Look at pop stars Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and now Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris on the female side, and Dan and Shay and Florida Georgia Line among the men.
I bring all of this up to say that this spring's hot song, Old Town Road was terrible when Lil Nas X performed solo. It took Billy Ray Cyrus to make it the hit it became. When country artists take their talents to other genres of music, It almost always adds positively to the song in question. Tim McGraw and Chris Stapleton have perhaps done this the most effectively in recent years, and now Billy Ray Cyrus, somehow, has done it again.
I have all the respect in the world for country artists, and I appreciate their talent when they have cross over hits. I just don't like country music.
