Musicians Switching Genres by Cameron Van

Every once in a while it happens: an artist will want to branch out in a completely different direction. This may involve switching mediums or dropping out of the arts completely. But for some, all that is required to jumpstart their careers or to get the creative juices flowing again is switching genres. Lately the big trend has been to give country a try. The latest release from rockers Bon Jovi is a country recording, Lost Highway. This was preceded by the hit Who says you can’t go home, a duet with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. The single Till we ain't strangers, another duet, this time with Leanne Rhymes was the winner of collaboration of the year at the CMT Music awards. So the switch has proved profitable for Bon Jovi. Another profitable genre switch was the move by Nelly Furtado to go from folk/world music to pop/hip hop with the help of Timbaland. Now, while I don’t care at all for this switch, much preferring the more modest folky music of Whoa Nelly and Folklore, I seem to be in the minority. With the release of Loose, Nelly has shot to the top of the charts with her dance songs. Perhaps the biggest and best known genre switcher is Alanis Morissette. When she first came out in the early 90s, Alanis was a dance/pop artist complete with sexy spandex , big hair and back up dancers. At what seemed to be the height of her career she disappeared. And thank She came back into the limelight with her 1995 smash recording Jagged Little Pill. With it’s lead single, the break up anthem You Ought to Know Alanis took the music world by storm. While she probably would have faded out as a dance artist, Alanis is now considered one of the top singer song writers of our generation. Sometimes it’s good to shake things up.