There was a time when these shows were meant to recognize music; now it seems that music is made to be featured on these TV broadcasts. It’s like how our politicians no longer stop campaigning after election day; they instead begin positioning for the next election, forgetting to actually govern or legislate between elections.

This translates into middle-of-the-road material, meant to appeal to–without offending–as many viewers as possible. That means no singing about anything sad unless it’s an exercise in generic narcissism, and you can name-check Merle Haggard so long as you don’t sing about being an inmate (unless, of course, it’s a novelty song).