Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Hunter Hayes and Chris Stapleton are just some of the big names in Country music that have taken to the O2 stage over the course of last weekend for the annual Country 2 Country (C2C) festival, that sees thousands of Country music fans come together to celebrate the genre and its artists.
This year marks the seventh of which C2C has been running, and like every year the showrunners provide a platform for new and upcoming artists, many of which work extremely hard to get a spot on the lineup for the festival.
One of the standout newbies of this year is singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress who has written for many established artists such as Alicia Keys, Why Don’t We and Charli XCX. The Colorado native performed on various stages throughout the weekend and impressed everyone with her poetic lyrics and keyboard playing techniques.
Courtesy of Graham Joy
Since making her solo debut and releasing her latest track “Lady Like”, the singer has jumped from strength to strength with Rolling Stone applauding her ‘honest and heartbreaking’ lyrics and Country Music Television (CMT) labelling her one of the ‘next women of Country.’
“Lady Like” is an empowering, somewhat poetic, feminist anthem that breaks down gender norms and the stereotypes women face in society. Taking a sociological approach to dissecting the gender normative narrative which women have been subjected to, “Lady Like” looks at the subjectivity of being a woman and that whilst some may assume women just ‘sit still and look pretty’, there is plenty they can do just as well, if not better than men.
‘I feel like I wrote the song because I’ve never really fit into the female stereotype of being ladylike- the song comes from a real place of where I felt fed up with trying to figure out how to be a woman, whatever that means’, Ingrid tells Affinity.
It is this feeling of displacement that Ingrid wants to highlight in the song- essentially ‘It’s for everybody who feels like they have been misunderstood.’
In the last few years, there has been a renaissance of strong, empowered Country female artists. The likes of Kacey Musgraves, Ashley McBryde and Maren Morris have received high critical acclaim for their powerful songwriting skills, furthermore, after winning a monumental four Grammy’s at this year’s show, Kacey Musgraves has set a new bar for female country singers; and it is definitely one of promise.
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When asked by Affinity on her thoughts of the new doors that are opening up for female Country singers Ingrid emphasised the importance of individuality. ‘I feel like Kacey really opened the gates for what you can do, in terms of setting your own path.’
As well as creating an impressive song catalogue for herself, Ingrid has also written for some pretty incredible artists such as Charli XCX. You know that song “Boys” which we were all kind of obsessed with, especially after watching the music video… Well, Ingrid was the brains behind that. When asked about who she would love to write for next, she told us that her next dream collab would be with either Ed Sheeran or ‘Country Jesus’ Chris Stapleton.
After seeing her live at C2C, it is pretty clear that there is a bright future ahead for Ingrid Andress, and we are so excited to see where her talent takes her next.
Check out her new single “Lady Like” now!
Featured Image Via Ingrid Andress
