It divides friends. It polarizes peers. It breaks up lovers.
"It" is country music.
And while it sometimes seems to set the record for drawing the most devout despisers, this brand of music has an equally powerful way of creeping into a person's listening regimen.
After all, if the country haters won out, would the Recording Industry Association of America be able to declare country artist Garth Brooks the fourth best-selling artist of all time?
A key to the spread of country listening is the phenomenon of conversion: one country aficionado introduces a non-fan to the music, and after a bit of listening, the latter becomes a self-proclaimed fan.
First-year College student Francesca Tarant is responsible for at least one conversion.
"My dad likes it now!" Tarant said.
Tarant, however, wasn't always a follower of the cowboy hat-wearing, Southern twang-wielding world of country herself. Like so many others, she was a country music hater at one point.
"My best friend listened to it," Tarant said. "At first I was like, 'Hey, cut that off, it's really obnoxious.'"
But exposure to the music eventually drew her in.
"I ride horses, and I guess being around that got me into it," Tarant said. "A lot of the people [who ride horses] are the country-music type."
Even after leaving the country-permeated environment of the stables and coming to the University, Tarant found people around her listening to country music.
"Every time I walk by the second floor of Dabney, I hear people blaring it," she said.
Second-year College student Heidi Hinson eased into country music through the one-size-fits-all genre of "pop-country," a label that commonly refers to crossover artists such as the Dixie Chicks and Tim McGraw.
From there, Hinson branched out to less mainstream country artists -- the kind reserved only for the most serious fan -- and eventually, country music became the genre she listens to most.
Years ago, Hinson was anti-country.
"In elementary school, I was like, 'I hate country music -- I'll never listen to it,'" she said.
In light of her experience, Hinson recommended that country haters "give it a chance," especially by trying out pop-country.
"It's not that twangy stuff that people usually associate with country," she said.
So why do listeners stick with country music once they've had a taste of it?
"It's not an abrasive type of music, and it's a comforting sound," Tarant said.
Hinson had a slightly different explanation.
"The lyrics aren't degrading," she said. "It's a fun, cheerful kind of music. And Tim McGraw is hot"
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