Miranda Lambert Thinks She & Carrie Underwood Deserve a ‘Ribbon for Surviving’ Male-Dominated Era of Country Music

Miranda Lambert is giving herself and Carrie Underwood credit for “surviving” the male-dominated era of country music in the 2010s.

In a clip from Lambert’s appearance on The New York Times’ Popcast posted on Thursday (Oct. 1), the star broke down what it was like to build her career in country music, which she says became less and less inclusive of women acts between when she started out and the 2010s. “I think the early 2000s, when I started, I was a pistol,” she began to hosts Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli.

“I wanted to be known for my songs, not for being the pretty girl or wearing crop tops,” she continued. “In the early 2000s, that was kind of the thing. It’s like dress sexy, be sexy, be a pretty girl.”

The following decade, Lambert says “it was like there were no females at all,” aside from herself and Underwood, with whom she collaborated on Billboard Hot 100 top 40 hit “Somethin’ Bad” in 2014.

“Carrie Underwood and I made it through pretty much a solid, at least, seven years of only guy artists coming out of country music,” the Texas native recalled. “It’s like, ‘Wow, this is really off-kilter a little bit.’”

“I feel like we should get a ribbon for surviving that,” she added. “Like, that was a hard time, honestly.”

Times have certainly changed since then. Kacey Musgraves, Megan Moroney, Lainey Wilson and numerous others are currently thriving in the genre, while Ella Langley recently made history with country anthem “Choosin’ Texas,” which became the longest-running Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 in chart history after logging its 23rd week in the top spot. The track — which Lambert just so happened to cowrite — has since added a 24th week to its reign.

With all of the balance country now has, Lambert added on Popcast that she and Underwood have finally been able to professionally cross paths with each other in recent years. “Carrie and I went to each other’s residencies in Vegas, and it was a really cool bonding moment because first of all, her show was incredible, and we had never seen each other [play],” she said. “You know why? There were only two girls for so long. We weren’t playing the same shows ever.”