I agree. I know money is a motivation for some people, but I think Maines is from a connected and privileged background and is not motivated by money. She wants what she conceives of as intellectual or artistic "respect" or cachet.
There are different types of "money" or currency. Some people want egotistical or artistic or intellectual respect, cachet or "currency" or validity to their way of thinking.
Maines is looking for what she imagines to be "intellectual" respect. She's trying to overcome a poor body and self image. She doesn't want to be "country" anymore.
She's like all the Hollywood "stars" and celebrities trying to look "smart" by wearing little eyeglasses. It's not enough for these people to be "stars" anymore, they want to think they're really smart, intellectual and important.
Good luck.
That's a good analysis. I think much of that, also, comes from actors and singers feeling they are intellectual underachievers, either not doing well in college or not having gone at all. So they seek the applause of those they think are "in the know" on the REAL truths. Which is why the conspiracy-crammed left is so appealing to them--see, they don't buy the line that "average" people get from reading newspapers and thinking about facts--they leapfrog over them and get the skinny from the ones who aren't FOOLED by all that BS from The Man.