Garth Brooks, one of the biggest male country stars of today, weighs in on the hot topic of gender inequality in country music.
Being married to the country icon, Trisha Yearwood, the singer definitely has a first-hand experience of the struggles that female country artists continue to experience.
Garth Brooks Makes His Point
According to the research Gender Representation on Country Format Radio: A Study of Published Reports from 2000-2018, someone who is as successful as Trisha Yearwood would have a harder time to sell music compared to his male counterpart.
Brooks had this to say:
“(She) works a thousand times harder than me to get a tenth as much as I do out of this business, She doesn’t complain. She just rolls up her sleeves and goes to work.”
This study was further proved by the Top 10 country artists being all men with the most airplay. Carrie Underwood is the first woman on the most-played list staying at No. 11.
So the question is, are the fans to be blamed because they prefer male singers? Or is it just women who are not given the opportunity to have enough exposure as their male counterparts?
Final Thoughts on this Matter
Garth Brooks believes that if we always prefer songs made by male artists, we would lack something that a female singer can give.
The singer explained:
“We’re not the smartest things on the planet. Females bring a whole different approach to how we see things. A good marriage between the male voice and the female voice, and country music, would be a true representation of what the people who listen to country music really are.”
These conversations had sparked opinions from country fans. Some believed that gender inequality does not exist because we have female country artists who are very successful in their career.
We can talk about Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Patsy Cline, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and the others being successful female artists. But the truth is, you can only name 10 successful female country artists of all time. Meanwhile, you can name 50 male country artists who are more successful than their female counterpart.
Here are some successful songs of Garth Brooks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DigwxiyKPio