Country music's relationship with mainstream pop culture continues to change, and Ella Langley's “Choosin' Texas” has become one of the clearest examples.

The record has spent an extraordinary amount of time at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, putting a country song in direct competition with the biggest pop, hip-hop and R&B releases in the country.

That accomplishment says something larger about the modern music audience.

Genre walls aren't what they used to be.

A generation ago, listeners often discovered music through radio formats, record stores and television programming that separated genres into distinct categories. Country lived in one place. Hip-hop lived somewhere else. R&B and rock each had their own sections.

Streaming erased much of that structure.

Today, somebody can listen to a country record, a trap record, a neo-soul song and a Latin hit within the same 20-minute drive.

The listener doesn't necessarily care where the industry thinks a song belongs.

They care whether they like it.

That creates opportunities for artists willing to develop a clear identity without becoming obsessed with fitting perfectly into one category.

“Choosin' Texas” also reinforces another lesson: crossover success doesn't always require an artist to abandon the characteristics that made people notice them in the first place.

Artists often hear that they need to become more pop, more commercial or more like whatever is currently dominating playlists.

Sometimes that works.

Sometimes it strips away the very thing that made the artist interesting.

Independent artists should be especially careful with trend chasing.

Today's hot sound can become tomorrow's exhausted formula quickly. By the time an artist copies what everyone else is doing, audiences may already be moving toward something new.

Identity lasts longer than a trend.

If you're a country artist, make believable country music.

If you're an R&B singer, sing.

If you're a rapper, rap.

If your music combines genres naturally, build that sound.

The goal shouldn't be to create a record that perfectly matches a playlist category.

The goal should be to create a record strong enough that people want to play it regardless of category.

Country isn't operating on the edges of popular music right now.

It's sitting in the middle of the conversation.

And records like “Choosin' Texas” are proving that when a song connects, the genre written beside it becomes much less important.

Make the record hit.

Let everybody else figure out where to file it.

Jalen Cross
BTS Music Group — Join the Movement.