The most recent issue of OK! reports that Gwen Stefani is moving country and leaving behind her pop roots. Stefani made her way onto the country scene with the release of their duet by Blake Shelton and Stefani. “Nobody But You.”
While she may have charmed the charts, Nashville’s finest musicians aren’t buying it. “They’re shaking their collective heads, wondering why this pop singer from Southern California is picking up all these kudos when she is anything but country”.
According to the tabloid, Stefani still has to be employed “earn her stripes” as a country star instead of riding on Shelton’s success. The couple has an Oklahoma mega-ranch but they spend their most time in their LA home. One insider says that’s all because of Stefani. “Let’s face it, she up and left — and took Blake with her!”
The snitch even speculates that the couple’s Oklahoma wedding was all for show and that Stefani has no real love for the state.
“People place a lot of emphasis on authenticity in country,”The tipster will explain. “For Gwen to say she loves Nashville and the South is one thing. But she’s clearly made the choice to base herself elsewhere … so they’re finding it hard to swallow.”
There’s no list of rules or requirements when it comes to country music, so it’s odd that this tabloid paints it as if Stefani has done something wrong. It’s extremely common for artists to experiment with different genres, and Stefani definitely isn’t the first to do it. From Lady Gaga and Halsey to Beyoncé and Lil Nas X, plenty of pop and R&B artists have played with the country genre and had great success doing it.
Furthermore, many famous country artists weren’t born in the southern United States. Some of the most popular country artists today aren’t even from the U.S., like Shania Twain and Keith Urban.
The point is, it would be extremely odd for a bunch of country artists to gang up on Stefani for releasing one country song — especially when her husband is such a well-established country artist. Since there’s no evidence that any significant country stars had a problem with Stefani hitting their charts, it’s clear there was no story here to begin with.