It's time for the ACM Awards once again. Country music mainstays like Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire, and Miranda Lambert are attending. But as some viewers are tuning into the red carpet, they're struggling to recognize everyone.
It would appear that the ACM Awards has invited an eclectic assortment of artists to this year's event. For instance, they invited their first K-pop band P1Harmony to the red carpet. With so many new faces in the genre and outside artists, some viewers are shrugging their arms in recognition.
For instance, one person wrote, "Are these all new country artists because I have no idea who these people are?" They continued, "Dasha everyone knows your song Austin no they don't. I don't even know who she is."
Another wrote, "This Amazon perspective is so odd and the focus of new talent is getting old." Yet another wrote, "I miss Country and Western." It's a common complaint for award shows.
ACM Awards Expands
Another wrote, "When did I get so out of touch with country music? Help. I'm like hanging my head in shame watching this! I know almost NO new artists! ? "
Showrunner Raj Kapoor and executive-producer Patrick Menton opened up about the challenges of making the ACM Awards country-first while expanding on it. "Our goal is always country-first," Kapoor said. "We're not actively going out to pursue artists [who are] out-of-genre. I think the most important thing is that it fits in a very natural way. We're not asking people to come in who don't have relationships or haven't wanted to work together or don't have projects together. We always want to stay authentically country. Those bonds that bring people together need to exist already."
Meanwhile, Menton pointed out that country music has continued to expand out and find new audiences. He said, "This is such a global genre now. Country artists are selling out stadiums in the U.K. and Europe and all over the world. So, I think there is that conversation of they want it to be a bit boundary-less. They want those guardrails to open up a little bit. Yes, for us to be focused on country and celebrate the genre, but we really do welcome these other genres coming in because [country] really has exploded into this global genre and we want to celebrate that."
