Well.... lets just say she records in Nashville and I think lives there too now.
She was never a "country singer" but has been embraced by the Nashville movers and shakers as the next big country thing, purely for the money to be made from riding the gravy train.
In the song writing world surrounding the Nashville music world, she is the thing that has changed it in ways that some would argue has taken country music further from it roots than ever before. If this is any indication of a new direction, maybe she has wanted to be a pop princess all along and is making that move now that she has a cash cushion to do it on.
Most of the stuff she has written and recorded has not been country, but is more teen angst from a female POV and is more pop than country even to this point.
I can appreciate the major changes she has wrought upon the country charts, although I don't agree with it, it has, none the less occurred, and must now be factored into the plans of anyone who wants to write for Nashville.