Luke Bryan Is a ‘Big Believer’ Female Artists in Country Music Have Faced Discrimination

He may not have been aware of the disparity at first, but now Luke Bryan is a big believer in the fact that female artists have faced discrimination in country music, based on their gender. Bryan, who is taking out both Runaway June and Caylee Hammack on his upcoming Proud to Be Here Tour, vows to do everything he can to shed light on the challenging issue.

“I sometimes think that in life you don’t realize there’s an imbalance until you start looking at the stats, and the truth,” Bryan told CMT‘s Cody Alan. “I’m a big believer. The fact that we are now going to have two awesome female acts out there. It’s very fun!”

The Georgia native is hopeful that the tide is finally changing, and women will once again have the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

“At the end of the day, the pressure is always on whether you’re male or female to try and put out music that really connects with country music as a whole,” Bryan said. “You can see change is happening!”

Bryan is back at radio with “What She Wants Tonight,” from his upcoming Born Here, Live Here, Die Here, out on April 24.

“When I walked out of the studio, I literally had a headache,” Bryan told Billboard, when discussing writing the new song. “I had to take an Advil ’cause I felt like I was getting a migraine.”

The song seems especially appropriate for Bryan to release now, especially because the song places control firmly with the woman.

“Back 20-30 years ago, that was a little more taboo for the woman to be controlling the narrative,” Bryan conceded. “But I feel like society has opened up a lot more. I think it’s more natural for a woman to go, ‘Hey, I like you. I’m focused in on you, and let’s see where the night takes us.’”

Born Here, Live Here, Die Here will be Bryan’s seventh studio album, although he hints it might be slightly different than his previous six records.

“I don’t know if like a 15, 16 — for awhile that was the trend,” Bryan told Taste of Country. “The only thing that worries me — even with What Makes You Country, my latest album — there are songs on there that are just wonderful songs that do get a little … lost in the mix. I think if we shrink the size of the albums and really focus on album size, you may in turn kind of make it that way.”

Photo Credit: Getty / CBS Photo Archive