Im not a Beyonce fan
Or a big country music fan, but why is she getting so much grief for her new song? It sounds like a perfectly fine country music song to me.
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Heartlander · 80-89, M
I haven't heard it, but it's probably like if Hillary Clinton was seen at a Bas Pro :)
Country is different for different people, and I think legacy country fans are also legacy rock and roll fans, and there may be lingering resentment for Beyonce singing Etta James's signature song for Obama. Like "how dare she!"
Country is different for different people, and I think legacy country fans are also legacy rock and roll fans, and there may be lingering resentment for Beyonce singing Etta James's signature song for Obama. Like "how dare she!"
@Heartlander it’s an okay song, regardless of genre. I ain’t gonna hate. Is it my favorite? Naw. But I wouldn’t change the channel either.
[media=https://youtu.be/238Z4YaAr1g]
She’s from and was born in Houston TX. Saw her in a cowgirl hat same as me as a young girl. This is part of her story.
[media=https://youtu.be/238Z4YaAr1g]
She’s from and was born in Houston TX. Saw her in a cowgirl hat same as me as a young girl. This is part of her story.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@JustGoneNow
It isn't about the song, how good it is, but the politics.
I remember the scene, Michelle and Barrack dancing to "at last" at the inaugural ball, sung by ... Beyonce? That should have been Etta James's moment, even if they wheeled her in on a wheel chair for that one song.
Even for us non-Obama supporters, it was an "at last" celebration, a fitting song by an old rocker who had weathered the struggle. But they swapped her out for Beyonce.
[media=https://youtu.be/r5W5ZgGrrPc]
It isn't about the song, how good it is, but the politics.
I remember the scene, Michelle and Barrack dancing to "at last" at the inaugural ball, sung by ... Beyonce? That should have been Etta James's moment, even if they wheeled her in on a wheel chair for that one song.
Even for us non-Obama supporters, it was an "at last" celebration, a fitting song by an old rocker who had weathered the struggle. But they swapped her out for Beyonce.
[media=https://youtu.be/r5W5ZgGrrPc]
@Heartlander these two things are not at all related. How anyone feels about Michelle Obama’s song choice has nothing to do with this artist’s decision to get back to her country roots and make the stylistic choice to begin a country career. While Mrs Obama’s song choice may have been political (I don’t see it as many have covered that song before and since and Beyoncé at the time had won critical acclaim for portraying James in "Cadillac Records”, so her cover kind of made sense… but maybe, I guess. 🤷♀️) Beyoncé’s new choice of genre is not at all. There are zero politics to choosing a genres unless someone is literally trying to inject their own into it. And as far as anyone’s choice of song for a dance… it’s personal. Certain songs and artists speak to us in different ways, and it’s not my call to decide for someone else what speaks to them.
As far as Etta James’s words, she herself said it was a joke blown out of proportion and also a bit of jealousy because she was butt hurt that it wasn’t her performing it.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/feud-etta-james-and-beyonce/#:~:text=In%202009%2C%20however%2C%20James%20was,he%20ain't%20my%20president.
Many artist’s struggle hearing their song done by someone else. Trent Reznor admitted having a hard time first hearing his song “Hurt” done by the great legend Johnny Cash (two white men and the one covering being a county singer,) yet no one said “how dare he” to Cash. Because it doesn’t make sense. Let artists be artists and leave politics to politics, unless the politics of this is merely about the color of her skin…
https://www.musicradar.com/news/johnny-cash-hurt-trent-reznor-rick-rubin
As far as Etta James’s words, she herself said it was a joke blown out of proportion and also a bit of jealousy because she was butt hurt that it wasn’t her performing it.
However, James later admitted that her words came from a place of jealousy and that it all appeared to be a joke blown out of proportion. “I didn’t really mean anything,” she insisted.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/feud-etta-james-and-beyonce/#:~:text=In%202009%2C%20however%2C%20James%20was,he%20ain't%20my%20president.
Many artist’s struggle hearing their song done by someone else. Trent Reznor admitted having a hard time first hearing his song “Hurt” done by the great legend Johnny Cash (two white men and the one covering being a county singer,) yet no one said “how dare he” to Cash. Because it doesn’t make sense. Let artists be artists and leave politics to politics, unless the politics of this is merely about the color of her skin…
In 2008, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor spoke to British tabloid The Sun about his first hearing of Cash's spine-tinglingly emotive version.
"I said I'd be very flattered but was given no indication it would actually be recorded.
"Two weeks went by. Then I got a CD in the post. I listened to it and it was very strange. It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song.
"I'd known where I was when I wrote it. I know what I was thinking about. I know how I felt. Hearing it was like someone kissing your girlfriend. It felt invasive."
It was the moving video, though, that made it all fall into place for the Nine Inch Nails star: "It really, really made sense and I thought what a powerful piece of art.
"I never got to meet Johnny but I'm happy I contributed the way I did. It felt like a warm hug. I have goosebumps right now thinking about it.
"I said I'd be very flattered but was given no indication it would actually be recorded.
"Two weeks went by. Then I got a CD in the post. I listened to it and it was very strange. It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song.
"I'd known where I was when I wrote it. I know what I was thinking about. I know how I felt. Hearing it was like someone kissing your girlfriend. It felt invasive."
It was the moving video, though, that made it all fall into place for the Nine Inch Nails star: "It really, really made sense and I thought what a powerful piece of art.
"I never got to meet Johnny but I'm happy I contributed the way I did. It felt like a warm hug. I have goosebumps right now thinking about it.
https://www.musicradar.com/news/johnny-cash-hurt-trent-reznor-rick-rubin
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@JustGoneNow I'm accounting for the pushback not the song nor the people. It was absolutely the perfect song for the ball but the wrong person singing it from the viewpoint of legacy rock and roll fans.
Yea, like the Obamas gave the batton to someone else.
I understand about artist being upset about other performers covering "their" songs. I remember reading Steve Goodman's "face the music" (?) some years ago and it covered the emotions and the betrayals pretty well.
because she was butt hurt that it wasn’t her performing it.
Yea, like the Obamas gave the batton to someone else.
I understand about artist being upset about other performers covering "their" songs. I remember reading Steve Goodman's "face the music" (?) some years ago and it covered the emotions and the betrayals pretty well.
@Heartlander I can totally understand you feeling it was the wrong artist, I however don’t understand tying any blame to said artist or associating it to her creating her own piece in the country genre. I’m sorry, I just don’t see how the two things relate at all. I personally won’t be buying her record. The song was just okay to me. However she has every right to make it and I would not be one to question her expression or suggest she limit her voice. Basically I don’t see the relevance of that to the OP’s question.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@JustGoneNow Lingering negative feelings. Much like when the Dixie Chicks offended Bush supporters. 15 years later they still have difficulty getting traction with some crowds. Nothing to do with their music. Dropping "Dixie" seemed like they were hunting for a new fan base.
On the flip side, look at the home run Gaga hit when she teamed up with Tony Bennett. We received that DVD as a gift from an old friend and it became one of our favorite. Before she wasn't on our radar. We're old people, still clutching onto our old favorites. Etta James, Tony Bennett. Neither Beyonce nor Gaga were on our radar.
All the above is different, but what they all have in common is that when a performer nudges their fan base or potential future fan base it can have a future affect, one way or another.
On the flip side, look at the home run Gaga hit when she teamed up with Tony Bennett. We received that DVD as a gift from an old friend and it became one of our favorite. Before she wasn't on our radar. We're old people, still clutching onto our old favorites. Etta James, Tony Bennett. Neither Beyonce nor Gaga were on our radar.
All the above is different, but what they all have in common is that when a performer nudges their fan base or potential future fan base it can have a future affect, one way or another.