Cowboy boots, some banjos and fiddles don’t make a country star. And since record one, that has been the question about Taylor Swift – is she truly a country artist?

‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ from her last record Red was by far the most pop-leaning release from Taylor… That is until last week when she released ‘Shake It Off,’ from her forthcoming album 1989.

Some people say that she has fully embraced the fact that ‘she is a pop artist.’ But I do not agree. Just like wearing cowboy boots and playing acoustic guitar do not make you a country artist, neither does loosing the boots and singing over a beat make you a pop artist.

Taylor is a country artist, always has been and always will be. Because it’s not production that makes a country artist – it’s the songs. It is the writing style. Taylor is a storyteller – and at the core, that is what makes a country artist.

I have an easier time arguing that people like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Sufjan Stevens, and even some hip-hop artists are more like country artists than their main identifying genre. Because those artist’s primary mode of communication has been through telling stories.

Whether the synthesizers on Taylor’s new record outweigh the use of acoustic guitars, it still won’t change the fact that she is a country artist.

What do you think? Are your songs and career painting an accurate picture of who you are as an artist? Lets figure that out together, email me here.