Is the feminine menon still happening?

As I was scrolling through the 2025 Grammy nominations this morning, I came across the expected nominees: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX. At least I knew the names of almost all the artists listed; I laughed when I saw Khruangbin, the psychedelic funk trio that's been rocking since 2010 and was nominated for Best New Artist, and smiled at the sight of Jacob Collier, one of those jazz prodigies who only seem to appeal to Boomer Grammy voters. generation seem to hear. However, there was one big name that I didn't know: Teddy Swims.

Teddy Swims, a nominee for Best New Artist, is a singer-songwriter from Georgia who makes blue-eyed soul. He looks like Travis Kelce Lil Wayne – at least in the first photo that pops up on Google Images – a rugged and bearded Southerner with facial tattoos, chains and a grill. He's also similar to Post Malone, who traded Young Thug and 21 Savage in his collaboration lineup for Morgan Wallen in his quest to reach all of Nashville this year. Do you know who else looks like Post Malone? Last year's nominee for best new artist, Jelly Roll, the country-rap sensation from Tennessee with a cross on his cheek. They're all gritty white guys who are embraced by the country establishment – both Teddy Swims and Posty will perform at the 2024 Country Music Awards – even as they cross genres and lay claim to rap aesthetics. And they are very, very popular.

The narrative that emerged at the 2024 Grammys in February is that women now dominate pop music. They still dominate the 2025 nominations, with 11 nominations for Beyoncé and seven for Billie Eilish and Charli XCX. Mainstream music discourse focuses on artists like Charli, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan who sing sassy songs about the joys of sexually liberated women. But the charts told a different story. While critics proclaimed this year the “summer of girly pop,” men dominated billboard “Top 100” – in June, only Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish made the “Top 10,” while “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen took the top spot.

This year has been a huge one for rural working-class men, or at least artists, who embrace that aesthetic and pose as lonely drunks whose only friend is their pickup truck. Shaboozey's “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” just became the longest-running No. 1 single of the decade, tied only with Morgan Wallen's 2023 hit “Last Night.” (Wallen, whose many controversies include saying the N-words on camera and the offense include SNL's COVID protocols, was rejected by the Recording Academy last year and just received his first Grammy nomination.) Take a close look billboard Charts and you will find types that you probably have never heard of – like Koe Wetzel, a Texas country-rock singer who just uploaded a hunting video to YouTube. Even Beyoncé, the most Grammy-nominated musician of all time, has tried to channel this anti-establishment spirit Cowboy Carter. Country is everywhere and everyone is trying to seem like a worker. Think of the camouflage hats that were first Chappell Roan merchandise, then as symbols of support for the Harris/Walz political campaign, or Lana Del Rey and Quavo's country-trap collaboration “Tough,” in which Lana – now with a Louisiana -Alligator tour guide is married – is – raves about guns, leather boots and “red dirt attitude”. We'll check back next year, but for now it looks like the culture is on the decline.