“I sing country music!” proclaimed Taylor Swift in her acceptance speech at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards.

Good thing she thinks so, because does anyone else?

After winning Best Female Video, it’s even more difficult to think of Taylor as a country music artist. This win cements Swift as one of the members of a select group of pop divas.

Not since the olden days even before Britney Spears has the VMAs had any sort of association with country music.

With the release of her second album “Fearless,” Swift has successfully crossed over to pop radio and into the headphones of millions of teenage girls across the nation.

Can other country artists and groups such as Sugarland, Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood even be categorized as country music artists with their heavy pop influences and Top 40 radio-friendly songs? Of course they can and probably always will be included in that category.

However, are these artists changing what country music actually is? Yes. They have taken away its authenticity and simply taken the country out of country music.

Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline are frowning at this very moment.

But has country music ever actually had barriers? Dolly Parton’s most famous and successful song was covered and performed by an R&B/Pop artist and all of a sudden the song turned into a pop standard. Perhaps Whitney Houston’s famous song “I Will Always Love You” is a prime example of how country music can’t be classified as country music.

Dolly Parton is without a doubt a country artist. No one said, “That sounds like a pop song!” when she sang “I Will Always Love You,” in 1973. The same can be said for for Houston in 1992 when she made it instantly famous.

So is taking away the song’s authenticity actually taking away its authenticity when a song can work in both genres? You be the judge.

Artists like Swift and Underwood have appeal to so many isn’t just success in country music but rather it’s becoming a popstar by writing songs for themselves that others can relate to.

When she sings, it’s like she takes a song directly from her diary and is sharing it all with us. She’s making her songs a little more human than “Harper Valley P.T.A.” did for suburban moms in the late 1960s.

If country artists are becoming pop stars, it’s only because they’ve gotten better. They’re still country. They’re just starting to show us a new side that we’re not used to.

Country music isn’t going anywhere, it’s just starting over again.

— John Lonsdale is an open option freshman from Stuart

Sugarland

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Where: Hilton Coliseum

Cost: $35, $48

Opening acts: Folk/rock singer Matt Nathanson and country singer Billy Currington

Country music duo Sugarland performs with Matt Nathanson and Billy Currington. Tickets are available through www.ticketmaster.com

About Sugarland:

Sugarland members Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush and former member Kristen Hall released their first album, “Twice the Speed of Life,” in 2004. In 2006, Hall left the group as its second album, “Enjoy the Ride” was released. Notable songs of the group includes “Baby Girl,” “Settlin,” “All I Want to Do,” “Already Gone” and the Grammy–winning “Stay.” Last year, Sugarland released its third album, “Love on the Inside.” In October, it will release a holiday album with five original songs and five traditional carols.