Country Dance-Pop
tagStarted 2014Peak 2017-2021Last big hit still active
Located in 2 routes
Country hooks welded to four-on-the-floor club production: synth pulses, programmed kicks, handclaps and disco-tinged grooves under a twangy topline. Pedal steel may flicker through, but the engine is a danceable beat and bright, processed vocals, built for festival singalongs and crossover dancefloors rather than the honky-tonk.
History
Emerged as country-pop absorbed EDM's club mechanics in the mid-2010s. Kacey Musgraves' Chic-like disco cut 'High Horse' and Walker Hayes' viral 'Fancy Like' pushed the sound to pop radio, while Maren Morris's 'The Middle' with Zedd planted a Nashville voice squarely inside dance-pop, cementing the hybrid across the country and Hot 100 charts.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Horse_(Kacey_Musgraves_song)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Middle_(Zedd,_Maren_Morris_and_Grey_song)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_Like
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Me_More