3 Iconic Artists Who Successfully Changed Genres

It’s never too late to reinvent yourself. That’s a lesson many singers have learned over the years. No one more so than those who’ve opted to leave their first genre behind for greener pastures.

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Whether they found success in their initial genre or only hit it big on their second try, there’s no arguing the courage it takes to try something new.

Read on for three artists who did just that when they genre-hopped to great success.

Darius Rucker

Darius Rucker may be known as a country star today, but he got his start in a rock band. As the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker found great success. He got six Top 40 hits, earned two GRAMMY Awards, and put out six LPS.

Amid the band’s success, Rucker set out on his own. He did so first as an R&B artist, before releasing a country album, Learn To Live, in 2008.

Though his first country album didn’t come out until the late aughts, Rucker’s love for country music took hold decades prior when he first heard Foster & Lloyd’s “Crazy Over You”. From then on, he told American Songwriter in 2021, he wanted to make a country album.

“For me, it’s really just music,” he said at the time. “We all put our own labels on it, and I understand that and live with it. But it’s really the same notes and the same words, just played a little differently.”

Throughout his career, Rucker has released seven country LPs, most recently Carolyn’s Boy in 2023. He’s won all the relevant music awards—from CMAs to ACMs to GRAMMYs—as a country artist, and notched nine No. 1 hits on the country airplay charts.

Katy Perry

Katy Perry wasn’t always a pop girly.

“I was raised in a very pseudo-strict religious household where the only thing on the menu was [gospel standards like] ‘Oh Happy Day’, ‘His Eye Is on the Sparrow’, and ‘Amazing Grace’—all eight verses of it,” Perry told MTV News in 2008. “That led to me being 14 or 15, when I started going to Nashville to record some gospel songs, and to be around amazing country-music vets and learn how to craft a song and play guitar.”

When she was just 16, Perry released her first album, Katy Hudson, which was a gospel record. Her gospel stint was short-lived, and Perry’s next album, One of the Boys, planted her firmly in the pop space in 2008.

“It’s been a long and winding road that started about five years ago,” she told the outlet of her sophomore LP. “… I started this thing, where I was signed and dropped, signed and dropped by a couple of labels. Then one day, Capitol Records picked me up and decided they wanted to make a Pretty Woman story out of me, without the prostitution.”

The plan worked, and Perry became an unmitigated success. She’s put out six albums, won five AMAs, and had nine No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100. Perry is currently in the midst of her career-spanning Lifetimes Tour.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift’s country roots are well-documented. The superstar released her self-titled debut in 2006, which featured pure country songs like “Tim McGraw” and “Our Song”.

Her next albums—Fearless in 2008 and Speak Now in 2010—were technically classified as country, though Swift’s bend toward pop was becoming more and more evident.

It was Swift’s Red in 2012 that really got people asking the question: Is Taylor Swift country anymore? She answered that herself two years later when she released 1989, her first official album in the pop genre.

“I followed my gut instinct and tried not to think about how hard it would be to break it to country radio,” Swift told Billboard in 2014. “I love those people—I didn’t want to break anyone’s heart.”

The album became a smash hit, spawning such songs as “Shake It Off”, “Blank Space”, and “Bad Blood”. In the years that followed, Swift put out six more pop albums, notched 12 No. 1 hits, amassed 14 GRAMMYs, and set out on many tours, including her record-breaking Eras Tour.

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