Achy Breaky Charts

Today, Explained

Vox

Politics, Daily News, News

4.3 • 10.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2019

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Old Town Road” officially became the most popular song in America today. But it’s also the most controversial. Vox’s Allegra Frank chronicles Lil Nas X’s challenges with the charts and Charlie Harding, co-host of the “Switched on Pop” podcast, attempts to figure out what counts as country. *An earlier version of our episode misstated the origins of “country trap.” Lil Nas X calls Young Thug a pioneer in the genre. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get to the show, the show is brought to you with support from Quip Electric Toothbrushes.
0:04.8	Your first refill pack is free right now.
0:07.5	When you buy an electric toothbrush, I get Quip.com slash explain.
0:10.7	They started just $25.
0:12.3	That website one more time is g-e-t-q-i-p.com slash explained.
0:18.3	Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road.
0:23.9	I'm gonna ride till I can't know more.
0:28.5	Okay, so there's a song.
0:31.9	It's called Old Town Road.
0:34.2	It's by a guy named Lil Nas X.
0:37.3	No relation to nasty Nas from NYC.
0:40.6	Old Town Road hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 today.
0:47.3	It is the most popular song in America.
0:51.1	And it's also the most controversial.
0:55.3	So Old Town Road is in the center of an interesting conversation now about who and what gets to
1:03.3	count as country music.
1:05.3	Allegra Frank is a culture editor for Vox.
1:08.2	But as country continues to absorb other genres like there's country rap, a lot of country
1:13.2	music artists are collaborating with pop stars.
1:16.2	The traditionalists, the purists who think of country as the Old Town Road, literally,
1:22.0	they start to question who gets to be in it.
1:27.2	Allegra, before we really get into the song, who is this guy?
	...

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