Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Underwood's single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the first country artist to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the only solo country artist in the 2000s to have a number-one song on the Hot 100. Her debut album, Some Hearts (2005), was bolstered by the successful crossover singles "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Before He Cheats", becoming the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history. She won three Grammy Awards for the album, including Best New Artist. The next studio album, Carnival Ride (2007) had one of the biggest opening weeks of all time by a female artist and won two Grammy Awards. Her third studio album, Play On (2009), produced the single "Cowboy Casanova", which had one of the biggest single-week upward movements on the Hot 100.
Country pop is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres like rock, pop, and country, continuing similar efforts that began in the late 1950s, known originally as the Nashville sound and later on as Countrypolitan. By the mid-1970s, many country artists were transitioning to the pop-country sound, which led to some records charting high on the mainstream top 40 and the Billboard country chart. In turn, many pop and easy listening artists crossed over to country charts during this time. After declining in popularity during the neotraditional movement of the 1980s, country pop had a comeback in the 1990s with a sound that drew more heavily on pop rock and adult contemporary. In the 2010s, country pop metamorphisized again with the addition of hip-hop beats and rap-style phrasing.
Miranda Leigh Lambert is an American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place on the television program Nashville Star, a singing competition which aired on the USA Network. Outside her solo career, she is a member of the Pistol Annies formed in 2011 alongside Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley. Lambert has been honored by the Grammy Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards. Lambert has been honored with more Academy of Country Music Awards than any artist in history.
Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her songwriting, artistry, and entrepreneurship have influenced the music industry and popular culture, and her life is a subject of widespread media coverage.
Lady A, known until 2020 as Lady Antebellum, is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood. Scott is the daughter of country music singer Linda Davis, and Kelley is the brother of pop singer Josh Kelley. The band abbreviated the name to "Lady A" in June 2020 during the George Floyd protests in an attempt to blunt the name's associations with slavery and the Antebellum South, inadvertently causing a dispute with Black blues and gospel singer Anita White, who had been using the name Lady A for more than 20 years.
Kacey Lee Musgraves is an American country singer. She began her music career in the early 2000s, when she self-released three solo albums, and recorded another album as a member of the duo Texas Two Bits. In 2007, she appeared on the fifth season of the USA Network singing competition Nashville Star, where she finished in seventh place. In 2012, she signed with Mercury Nashville and released the hit single "Merry Go 'Round". Her major-label debut album Same Trailer Different Park (2013), won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.
MacKenzie Lea Porter is a Canadian country singer, songwriter, and actress. She has released one self-titled album and achieved four Canada Country number ones with "About You", "These Days", "Seeing Other People", and "Pickup". She is featured on Dustin Lynch's number one Country Airplay hit "Thinking 'Bout You". As an actor she is best known for her leading role as a future-sent medic in the television series Travelers.
Dan + Shay is an American country pop music duo composed of vocalists and songwriters Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney. They are signed to Warner Records Nashville and have released five albums, Where It All Began, Obsessed, Dan + Shay, Good Things and Bigger Houses. Of their nine singles, five have topped the Country Airplay chart and two have topped the Hot Country Songs chart. The duo have collaborated with Justin Bieber, Charlie Puth, Rascal Flatts, Lindsey Stirling, RaeLynn, and Kelly Clarkson. From 2019 to 2021, the duo won three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for the songs "Tequila", "Speechless", and "10,000 Hours".
Sam Lowry Hunt is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Hunt played football in his high school and college years and once attempted to pursue a professional sports career before signing with MCA Nashville in 2014.
Kelsea Nicole Ballerini is an American country pop singer and songwriter. She began songwriting as a child and signed a contract with Black River Entertainment in 2014, releasing her debut studio album the following year, The First Time. Her second studio album, Unapologetically, followed in 2017.
Carly Pearce is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her material contains elements of both traditional and contemporary country-pop music. Pearce began performing professionally in her teens, appearing on several albums of bluegrass material in the 2000s. After moving to Nashville, Tennessee, she began gaining more widespread notice.
Good Person is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress. It was released on August 26, 2022 via Warner Music Nashville. "Wishful Drinking", a duet with Sam Hunt, was released as the album's lead-off single in December 2021.
Tenille Nicole Townes is a Canadian country music singer from Grande Prairie, Alberta. In 2011, at the age of 17, she was nominated for a Canadian Country Music Award for Female Artist of the Year.
Gabby Bernadette Barrett is an American country music singer. She finished third on the sixteenth season of American Idol. Her debut single "I Hope" was the first top 10 Hot Country Songs debut by an unaccompanied woman since October 2017. It became a top three hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified 7× platinum by the RIAA. Her debut album Goldmine was released on June 19, 2020. Country Now called Barrett "country music's next female superstar".
"More Hearts Than Mine" is a song by American singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress from her debut studio album, Lady Like (2020). It was written by Andress alongside Sam Ellis and Derrick Southerland, with production being handled by Andress and Ellis. Warner Music Nashville released it as her second single for digital download and streaming on April 5, 2019. In June 2019, the aforementioned label sent the song for radio airplay, becoming Andress' first song to be submitted for this format. The country ballad discusses Andress' decision of bringing her boyfriend home and declares that if they break up, her family will suffer most. Andress wrote the song after considering whether or not she should bring her new boyfriend to her family, as they became attached to Andress' ex-boyfriend from a previous relationship.
Lady Like is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress. It was released on March 27, 2020, by Warner Music Nashville. A country pop record, its tracks are inspired by Andress's real-life events. The album focuses on the themes of relationships, family and feminism. Andress co-wrote and co-produced the entirety of it, while working with other producers such as Sam Ellis and Jordan Schmidt. "More Hearts Than Mine" preceded the album, being released in April 2019 as its lead single. It charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100. The track obtained double platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Music Canada (MC).
"Lady Like" is a song by American singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress from her debut studio album of the same name (2020). It was written by Andress, Sam Ellis and Derrick Southerland, with Andress and Ellis handling the production. The track was originally released as Andress' debut single under Warner Music Nashville for digital download and streaming on February 22, 2019, and was later re-released as the third single off her debut album in October 2020 by the aforementioned label. A country pop song, "Lady Like" is about resisting gender stereotypes. Andress wrote the song after going out with a man who rejected her when she started talking about politics. She also used her personal experiences of being expected to act like a woman as inspiration for the track.
"Wishful Drinking" is a song by American country music singers Ingrid Andress and Sam Hunt. It was made available digitally on August 2, 2021 and released to country radio on December 13, 2021. Andress co-wrote the song with Jonny Price, JP Saxe, Lucky Daye, and Rykeyz, and produced it with Jordan Schmidt. It is the lead single from Andress' second studio album Good Person.
"The Stranger" is a song by American singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress from her debut studio album, Lady Like (2020). The song was written by Andress alongside Ryan Lafferty, while the production was handled by the former and Sam Ellis. It was released as Andress' debut single by Arthouse Entertainment and What Is an Ingrid on February 4, 2017, for digital download and streaming. After Andress signed a record deal with Warner Music Nashville, the label re-released the song as the second single from the album in June 2020. The country track details a lost romance and Andress was inspired to write it after noticing the unrealistic expectations of love.
Lauren Elizabeth Jenkins is an American singer-songwriter. Throughout her teenage years, Jenkins performed regularly at nightclubs in various states, before settling in New York City to study acting. While involved with the film industry, she landed the role of Trey Campbell in Deadline (2012). Big Machine Records would sign Jenkins as a recording artist in 2013 and release her debut extended play (EP) The Nashville Sessions EP in 2016. This was followed by her debut studio album, No Saint (2019), which ranked on Billboard's Top Country Albums and Heatseekers Albums charts. After being removed from Big Machine's roster in March 2020, she independently released her second EP Miles on Me, Part 1 in July 2021.
