We all know that Miranda Lambert is a superstar. She has been very successful in her career for almost two decades. Her name is already decorated with accolades from the ACM, Grammy, and CMA. In fact, she is the most awarded artist of the ACM. She has a solid and loyal fanbase who patronized her albums. What more do you think she needs to prove herself?

Jason Aldean ft. Miranda Lambert “Drowns the Whiskey”

However, the last decade hasn’t been so good to her because her new songs struggled on the radio. Note that radio airplay is a critical component in country music’s success despite the streaming era. Do you think artists like her need it to sell her albums? Let’s take her 2016 album “The Weight of These Wings” for example. It sold double platinum but only landed Top 10 on the radio. Ain’t it contradictory?

Then, just last summer, she was featured in Jason Aldean’s  “Drowns the Whiskey.” The single steadily climbed the charts and reached No. 1 in August after three months.

Hooray for Miranda! But, how does she feel about this? Here’s what she has to say in an interview with The Washington Post,

“Yes, I had to sing with someone with a penis to get a No. 1. I do like this person, Jason Aldean, a lot . . . so it was a great song with an old friend.”

Lambert continued:

“It is interesting that I haven’t had even a Top 20 in a long, long time. And then it goes No. 1 because it’s a dude,but you know – if we went and looked at how many singles or records were sold for the Top 10 songs right now, I’d probably triple it on record sales. So it doesn’t matter.”

The Facts

Perhaps double standard still exists in our society today for women to actually succeed in the country music scene, especially in country radio. There actually is a gender imbalance no wonder it’s being scrutinized for the last few years.

In 2015, a consultant was slammed as he advised country stations to decrease the number of songs by women for higher ratings. Sadly, there hasn’t been much done about this. The Tennessean reported that only 10.4 percent of songs from female country artists are played on the radio. That’s even 13 percent lower from 2016.

Another thing is that radio programmers are not quite sure how to feel about Miranda Lambert since she started out in 2014. They just couldn’t understand why at a young age, she sang about revenge on a cheating ex in her song “Kerosene” and domestic abuse in ” Gunpowder & Lead.”

Lambert’s representative from her music label said on a podcast episode of “This Nashville Life” that programmers didn’t “get” her and why her music was so “angry.” While some of her singles became successful, other flopped. Still, Lambert’s album and concerts sold well that country radio just couldn’t get rid of her. Eventually, in 2010, she landed her first No.1 radio hit “White Liar.”

Well, a woman can say what she wants to say regardless of how sarcastic it may be. She is entitled to her own opinion and the meaning can just lie on the listeners or readers? Do you think there is really something wrong with the standards of the country music industry? Share your thoughts and comment below.