Country singer Tanner Adell is getting candid about the challenges of feeling underrepresented in country music as a Black artist.

During a recent interview, the 28-year-old explained how some country music listeners weren’t initially receptive to her unique style when she first stepped onto the scene.

Regardless of the initial criticism, however, Tanner Adell continues to push forward and evolve as one of country music’s most exciting rising stars.

Adell has been releasing music since 2021, but she says she didn’t feel like she belonged in the genre from the very start. In fact, the “FU-150” admitted she felt “underrepresented” when she first moved to Nashville, the heart of country music.

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“I felt underrepresented, but it wasn’t until I got [to Nashville] that I understood how underrepresented,” Adell told Teen Vogue. “There’s not a lot of people like me in country music.”

As she went on, Adell explained how “traditional” country music tends to be and how her style, which includes trap beats and some rap, didn’t fit the mold.

And if that wasn’t enough, Adell’s debut album, “Buckle Bunny,” was an even bolder move, considering the term has a negative connotation.

“Buckle Bunny is kind of like a country bumpkin h-e,” she said, later explaining that it’s a derogatory term for a woman. “… it was just because they were doing their hair, doing their makeup, getting their nails done, to go to the rodeo, and some people didn’t like that,” she said.

However, Adell was determined to turn the phrase around, admitting, “I wanted to take the term, turn it on its head, and write something a little more empowering.”

And empower she did. As of September 2025, the album’s title track, which features the lyrics, “I’m a buckle bunny / Drive my own truck, got my own money,” has over two million views on YouTube and has become a trending sound on social media apps like TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

Adell also saw a massive rise in popularity in 2024 after being featured on Beyoncé’s genre-bending album, “Cowboy Carter.” She was one of four Black female artists with vocals on the song “Blackbiird.”

Adell also made a memorable appearance in Beyoncé’s Netflix special, “Beyoncé Bowl,” which later won an Emmy for Outstanding Costumes, as previously reported by The Blast.

Regarding the increase in streams, per The Hollywood Reporter, Adell believes it’s because her music truly resonates with her listeners. “I think [my music] is just a place for people who feel like maybe they haven’t been seen. It’s a place for them to feel seen,” she said.

Later, during her conversation with Teen Vogue, Adell reflected on the Recording Academy’s recent decision to split the country music categories into two: Best Traditional Country Album and Best Contemporary Country Album, following Beyoncé’s wins for “Best Country Album” and “Album of the Year.”

“There are a lot of people who don’t consider my music country,” she said. “I grew up in Wyoming, and it’s a big part of my life… And at first, I was like, I don’t want a special category. I want to be considered with the rest of everyone that’s in the traditional country category.”

After more thought, however, Adell realized winning an award wasn’t the reason she began making music in the first place. “But as time has gone on, I’m really glad… I don’t think it takes an award to tell you how important you are or how good you are,” she concluded.

As previously reported by The Blast, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. explained the reasoning behind splitting the country categories.

“[Country singers came to the board and] said, we think we need more space for our music to be celebrated and honored,” Mason said, later sharing that the idea has been proposed many times before.

“It makes country parallel with what’s happening in other genres,” Mason said. “But it is also creating space for where this genre is going.”

The new Best Traditional Album category will honor “excellence in albums of traditional country music, both vocal and instrumental.”

“Traditional country includes country recordings that adhere to the more traditional sound structures of the country genre, including rhythm and singing style, lyrical content, as well as traditional country instrumentation such as acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar, and live drums. It also includes sub-genres such as Western, Western Swing, and Outlaw country,”  the description of the new category reads.