Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories

America is a little bit country, a little bit rap

America is a little bit country, a little bit rap

kali9/Getty Images

Country music can bring us together, even though we often think of country music as conservative and rap as progressive.

Art is nuanced as is the truth, and generalizations about country music and artists are as misplaced as generalizations about rap music.


Luke Combs brings the powerful words of being better together to his country hit in "Better Together."

And while many from urban America think country music is just for red states, Tim McGraw understands this is not the case:

"Music gives us hope and brings us together in a way nothing else can. This doesn't mean we don't have work to do. Quite the opposite. I loved the positivity of this song and that it called me to check myself and to remember that love is bigger."

McGraw adds about his song, "Undivided": "It's why I knew this song had to be my next single with Tyler as soon as he sent it to me."

That songs, written by Tyler Hubbard and Chris Locke for everyone, includes the lyrics:

I think it's time to come together

You and I can make a change

Maybe we can make a difference

Make the world a better place

Look around and love somebody

We've been hateful long enough

Let the good Lord reunite us 'Til this country that we love is Undivided

You can see the power of music to bring us together.

Please email us at pop-culture@fulcrum.us and provide us with other examples that you think represent the connection between the arts and democracy. Whether music, theatre, poetry, comedy, spirituality, sport or other mediums, please send us your ideas.

Read More

Word Kill: Politics Can Be Murder on Poetry

A poster featuring Renee Good sits along the street near a memorial to Good on January 16, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Word Kill: Politics Can Be Murder on Poetry

Across the United States and the world, millions are still processing the recent killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis by ICE agents. Reactions have intensified as more recently ICE agents shot a Venezuelan man in the same city, and additional National Guard troops have been deployed there.

Many were shocked learning of Good’s shooting, and the shock grew as more information and details about the events leading up to her death, as well as facts about Good herself.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bad Bunny Super Bowl Clash Deepens America’s Cultural Divide

Bad Bunny performs on stage during the Debí Tirar Más Fotos world tour at Estadio GNP Seguros on December 11, 2025 in Mexico City, Mexico.

(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

Bad Bunny Super Bowl Clash Deepens America’s Cultural Divide

On Monday, January 26th, I published a column in the Fulcrum called Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Sparks National Controversy As Trump Announces Boycott. At the time, I believed I had covered the entire political and cultural storm around Bad Bunny’s upcoming Super Bowl performance.

I was mistaken. In the days since, the reaction has only grown stronger, and something deeper has become clear. This is no longer just a debate about a halftime show. It is turning into a question of who belongs in America’s cultural imagination.

Keep ReadingShow less
Independent film captures Latino immigrant life in Wisconsin

Miguel (David Duran) in an ice fishing tent with a strange local, Carl (Ritchie Gordon)/ Nathan Deming

Photo Provided

Independent film captures Latino immigrant life in Wisconsin

Wisconsin filmmaker Nathan Deming said his independent film February is part of a long-term project to document life in Wisconsin through a series of standalone fictional stories, each tied to a month of the year.

Deming said the project is intentionally slow-moving and structured to explore different perspectives rather than follow a single narrative. He said each film functions on its own while contributing to a larger portrait of the state.

Keep ReadingShow less