Welcome to the third round of Country Perspective’s 2016 Worst Country Artist Tournament! We’re now down to the Egregious 8 and the match-ups are getting better and better. You know the drill: vote for who you think is the worst country artist in the match-up. Remember you have until Wednesday, March 30 at 2 PM ET to vote, so be sure to get your votes in! If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments below.
The Sour 16 round of Country Perspective’s 2016 Worst Country Artist Tournament is now over! It was definitely a lot quieter than the first round, although that didn’t make the results any less intriguing. Who moved on…
Unlike the first round where we had very two close contests, this round featured all blowouts as the field really starts to narrow down to the absolute worst. In the Pop Artists Region, the #1 seed Sam Hunt blew out #16 seed RaeLynn, winning nearly 75% of the vote. I’m surprised RaeLynn didn’t draw more ire. Then again I think the main factor that came into play here was impact, as Hunt’s impact is way larger than RaeLynn’s impact. #9 seed Kane Brown had a similar result as he took down #25 seed and the Cinderella of the tournament, Chris Lane, winning over 72% of the vote. I have to believe the “one hit wonder” factor came into play here, as Lane only has the one terrible single that has made an impact compared to Brown who appears to breaking out in 2016 and set to make a big impact. In the We’re A Group & We Suck Region, #4 seed Florida Georgia Line and #5 seed Old Dominion both destroyed their opponents, #13 seed LoCash and #12 seed Dan + Shay respectively. This region has played out exactly how everyone expected it to go, as there aren’t too many toxic groups in country music. It’s certainly making me reconsider regions for next year’s tournament.
In the Good ‘Ol Bros Region, #2 seed Thomas Rhett obliterated #18 seed Justin Moore with over 87% of the vote. The match-up of #7 seed Brantley Gilbert and #10 seed Chase Rice was expected to be close by yours truly, but I turned out to be wrong. Rice continues his momentum, as he easily beats Gilbert, winning just over 67% of the vote. You the voters have made it loud and clear that I under-seeded Rice. I underestimated the amount of ire you still hold towards him. Finally in the Georgia Region, #3 seed Luke Bryan took care of #14 seed Dustin Lynch, winning exactly 80% of the vote. Once again I was wrong in predicting a close match-up, this one being #6 seed Cole Swindell versus #11 seed Jason Aldean. While it was close very early and finished as the closest result, in the end it was obvious as Swindell won over 59% of the vote to Aldean’s nearly 41% of the vote. What put Swindell over the top seemed to be his clear lack of quality music compared to Aldean having some quality music, despite Aldean’s obvious detrimental impact on the genre over the last few years.
We now move on to the Egregious Eight, where the match-ups get even tougher to decide. For those who aren’t aware of the definition of egregious, it means “outstandingly bad.” The perfect description for our remaining eight! In the Pop Artists Region Final, we have #1 seed Sam Hunt taking on #9 seed Kane Brown. In one corner you have an artist who has introduced metro bro to the genre and in the other we have an artist who calls themselves “the Justin Bieber of country music.” Hunt has clearly made the bigger impact on the genre to this point, but Brown appears poised to make a big impact himself. Hunt is still the clear favorite here, but I could certainly see Brown making it interesting.
In the We’re A Group & We Suck Region Final, #4 seed Florida Georgia Line meets #5 seed Old Dominion in a truly titanic meeting. Two years ago Florida Georgia Line received our Worst Album of the Year award. Last year Old Dominion won the same award. I’ll be completely shocked if this doesn’t go down to the wire. Florida Georgia Line made bro country huge and while their stature has slipped some lately, the sour taste they left in many people’s mouth is still there. Old Dominion is rapidly gaining popularity and racking up hits, appearing to be the next big group in mainstream country. Their lead singer Matthew Ramsey also has one of the most unlikable personas in the genre and it rubs off in the music, most notably on “Break Up With Him.” So out with the old or in with the new?
In the Good ‘Ol Bros Region Final, #2 seed Thomas Rhett faces off with #10 seed Chase Rice. Rhett has made it to this spot rather comfortably, as his awfulness is in full swing at the moment and shows no signs of slowing. But he meets his toughest test in Rice, who has beat opponents with surprisingly relative ease. There’s a great chance Rice might not even make the tournament next year, as he rose up the ranks by latching onto the bro country fad that is clearly dead now. He hasn’t even made that big of an impact in his short time in mainstream country. Yet you the readers have made it clear you don’t like him. Not sure how this one will play out. Finally we have the match-up I’m the most intrigued by and will watch closely. In the Georgia Region Final, #3 seed Luke Bryan will square off with protégé and #6 seed Cole Swindell. Bryan is the godfather of bro country and has continued his reign of terror by getting on the metro bro wagon. Of course everyone knows Swindell was a former merchandise peddler for Bryan and is what led to him getting his big break. Bryan essentially created Swindell. So you the voter is tasked with voting for Dr. Frankenstein or Frankenstein’s monster.
Remember you can only vote once, as much as you want to vote for both. I can’t wait to see how the Egregious Eight plays out! Thank you all to everyone who has voted and participated so far. We’re getting down to the truly worst and hope all of you will continue to participate. The polls for this round will open on Monday March 28 at 1 PM ET. May the worst win!
Welcome to the second round of Country Perspective’s 2016 Worst Country Artist Tournament! We’re now down to the Sour 16 and the match-ups are getting better and better. You know the drill from the first round: vote for who you think is the worst country artist in the match-up. Remember you have until Wednesday, March 23 at 2 PM ET to vote, so be sure to get your votes in! If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments below.
Pop Artists Region
We’re A Group & We Suck Region
Good ‘Ol Bros Region
Georgia Region
The round of 32 in Country Perspective’s 2016 Worst Country Artist Tournament is over! It was interesting to watch play out to say the least. So how did it play out…
For the most part it played out pretty predictably in the first round of voting. Most of the favorites won their match-ups pretty easily, just like the college basketball tournament. The biggest blowout took place in the We’re A Group & We Suck Region, as Florida Georgia Line crushed The Cadillac Three by a 93% to 7% margin. All of the top seeds won fairly comfortably, although I’m surprised Steven Tyler and Michael Ray were able to pull over 25% of the vote against Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett respectively.
Of course not every match-up was like this. There were two upsets that took place in the first round. The first one I didn’t see coming. In the Pop Artists Region #25 Chris Lane upset #6 Kelsea Ballerini, with Lane pulling just ahead of Ballerini with 53.25% of the vote to her 46.75% of the vote. Only 15 votes was the difference! But shockingly this was not the closest. That honor goes to the match-up of #15 Blake Shelton against #18 Justin Moore. It began with Blake crushing Moore early in the voting by a 70-30 margin. Then the Shelton super fans found out about our little tournament. They shared it and voted like crazy for Moore to give Moore a 10% lead at one point. But then Miranda Lambert fans started voting back against Blake fans (I know because of my mentions on Twitter). From there on it was an absolute dead heat as the lead changed hands multiple times yesterday afternoon and evening. Before I went to sleep there was only a one vote difference! I thought I would have to break a tie, but Shelton fans made one last push and Moore came out on top with 51.59% of the vote to pull the upset. Shelton pulled in 48.41% of the vote. The difference? Only 11 votes!
So now we move on to the Sour 16! We start off in the Pop Artists Region as top seed of the entire tournament Sam Hunt will take on #16 RaeLynn, who easily dispatched of Hunter Hayes in round one. Below #9 Kane Brown, who defeated Danielle Bradbery in the round of 32, will face the Cinderella of the tournament, #25 Chris Lane. The winners of these match-ups will face each other in the Egregious 8 to determine the winner of the Pop Artists Region. It’ll be interesting to see if Chris Lane can pull off another upset and if RaeLynn, who has never received above a 0 grade on this blog, can knock off top seed Sam Hunt.
In the We’re A Group & We Suck Region, #4 Florida Georgia Line will square off with #13 LoCash, who dispatched of Lady Antebellum quite easily in the first round. In the other Sour 16 match-up in the region, #12 Dan + Shay, who defeated the older versions of themselves in round one, will face #5 Old Dominion. From the start it looked pretty obvious that Florida Georgia Line and Old Dominion were on a collision course to face each other in the region final and it looks to still be the case. Between LoCash and Dan + Shay, I think LoCash has the best chance to pull of an upset. It’s a long shot, but I can see an upset scenario.
Moving onto the Good ‘Ol Bros Region, #2 Thomas Rhett will face off with #18 Justin Moore. The winner of this will meet the winner of what I predict will an absolute bloodbath of a match-up. #10 Chase Rice, who crushed #23 Tyler Farr, will meet #7 Brantley Gilbert, who easily beat #26 Easton Corbin. I think Rice versus Gilbert will be absolutely crazy, as both artists have their fair number of detractors and have made lots of bad music. Just like Shelton versus Moore, I could see super fan turnout being a possible determining factor. Either way I expect it be quite close.
Finally in the Georgia Region, #3 Luke Bryan will take on #14 Dustin Lynch, who beat #19 Kenny Chesney in the first round. I expect Bryan to win this easily, but below we have another thriller set up. #11 Jason Aldean, who took down #22 Billy Currington with ease, will face #6 Cole Swindell, who took out Earl Dibbles Jr.’s alter ego. Do I have to spell this one out? It’s Swindell versus Aldean! The purveyor of country rap against the former Luke Bryan merchandise peddler. The man who helped make Brantley Gilbert a thing faces the man who does this:
I can’t wait to see how the Sour 16 match-ups play out! Thank you everyone who voted in the first round and hope you all continue to stick around in the subsequent rounds. It’s starting to get really good! The polls will open on Monday at 1 PM ET. May the worst win!
Welcome to the first round of voting in Country Perspective’s 2016 Worst Country Artist Tournament. We continue our first round with voting in the Good ‘Ol Bros Region. Remember that you have until Friday 1 PM ET to vote, so get your votes in! If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments below.
Polls are closed! Thank you for voting and be sure to check out the updated bracket.
