Kelly Clarkson Slams Country Music: ‘Y’all Don’t Play People With Boobs’

In a YouTube Q&A about her upcoming daytime television show,  Kelly Clarkson's definition of the slang term "farm emo" unraveled into a rant about the current state of the country music charts. Press play above to watch how the conversation started, beginning at the 6:40 mark.

Clarkson feels that such fake subgenre names exist "because country music doesn’t sound country anymore," or at least it hardly resembles the music of such childhood heroes as Shania Twain and Clarkson's mother-in-law, Reba McEntire. “I love that when I started to do country, they were like, ‘Oh you’re pop. You’re not country enough,'" Clarkson adds. "I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, let me show you this list of the Top 20,’ which by the way did not include one female."

Clarkson's reference to country radio's well-documented lack of women culminated with a headline-grabbing quote blunt enough to come from McEntire or her upcoming CMA Awards co-host, Dolly Parton.

“Y’all don’t play people with boobs either, [but] it’s fine. ‘Oh you got boobs, you’re not a man, get out of here.’ What happened? Do you want me to go off on how many women [in country music] were so monumental in my [career]?” she adds. “What is happening in country music? This is what’s happening. Y’all aren’t playing country music anymore.”

As Clarkson alluded to during the segment, she has rubbed elbows with the genre on several occasions. Earlier in 2019, the singer brought McEntire herself to the stage during a Nashville Meaning of Life Tour stop (a run that included another woman of country, Kelsea Ballerini, as opening act). Onstage, Clarkson and McEntire performed a medley of hits that included snippets of "Because of You," "Fancy, "Can't Even Get the Blues" and McEntire's latest single, "Freedom."

The Kelly Clarkson Show premieres Monday (Sept. 9) on NBC, in the time slot before The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

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