Reba McEntire Dishes On Her Big Oscar Performance
"I'm excited! [And] a little intimidated," she admits.
Reba McEntire will be representing country music at Hollywood’s biggest night on Sunday (March 27), as she steps onstage at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles to perform on the 94th Academy Awards.
The iconic singer and actress will be on hand to perform “Somehow You Do” from the film Four Good Days, which is nominated for Best Original Song, and leading up to Oscar night she spoke with reporters about the honor.
It will actually be McEntire’s second Oscar performance, following an emotional appearance in 1991 which happened just nine days after a tragic plane crash killed eight members of her band and crew. The Country Music Hall of Famer says she is definitely keeping those loved ones in mind as the night approaches, and that the song she’ll sing feels especially appropriate. It’s layered with hope, and resilience.
“Here we are all these years later and I’m singing another song by Diane Warren that is so powerful and so needed, because it gives hope,” McEntire said, speaking via Zoom. “If you’ve seen the movie, Four Good Days, it is such an emotional movie about drug addition. Opioids, Oxycontin. We need it today, this song gives hope which we always need. I’m very honored Diane asked me to sing this song, and we are both so thrilled to get nominated.”
Aching but not defeated, weary but determined to prevail, the song itself is certainly worthy of Oscar consideration. But it may be McEntire’s delivery of the track that actually sent it over the edge for Academy voters. No stranger to the deep wounds the song is steeped in — or the seemingly-impossible process of healing that comes after — Reba said she brought her own experience of loss and resilience to the recording booth.
“Unfortunately that did help,” the superstar admitted. “When we got the demo it was a very rough demo, and we worked on it and worked on it. Tony Brown and the musicians. we were trying to find the right groove for this song, and once we got in there … it just locked into place. I think the musicians did the same thing, they kind of thought about something they could relate to, and it came through in the music.”
McEntire’s live performance will be one of four on the night which showcase the Best Original Song contenders, and her fellow performers are a who’s who of the biggest names in pop. Beyonce will be on hand to sing “Be Alive” from King Richard, Billie Eilish will sing the theme to the latest 007 film, “No Time to Die,” and Sebastian Yatra will sing a true Disney anthem — “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto. Plus, a star-studded cast will also give first live performance of Encanto’s ear-worm hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” as well. So how does she feel to be the only country artist on a lineup full of global superstars and Disney singalongs? Proud, Reba says. And if she’s honest, a little intimidated.
“I don’t know how you’re supposed to balance that out!” she said with a laugh. “We went to rehearsal today with the track, just in a rehearsal room with my three, gorgeous, great sounding backup singers, and we ran it twice and they’re like ‘Ok, we’ll see you at the Oscars!’ I went ‘Wow! that’s it?’ They’re professionals. They were going right through!
“So, I’m excited! [And] a little intimidated,” she went on. “But I will do my best to represent country music as best I can.”
With a long list of awards-show performance behind her, we have no doubt she will do a marvelous job on that front. And according to her, a big part of nailing those big moments is the headspace a performer stays in ahead of time. McEntire will calm her nerves by keeping her daily routine as close to a normal day as possible — starting with “coffee camp” with her boyfriend, Rex Linn.
“Rex and I have ‘coffee camp’ every day, we’ve done it every day for two years,” she explains. “Matter of fact, March 22nd was our second anniversary, and we’ve not missed a morning. … But after ‘coffee camp,’ we have the run through, then we get ready. Then we do the red carpet and then we go to the show, and then we’re gonna go eat afterwards. So it’s gonna be a fun day, nobody’s gonna get uptight or anxious. We’re gonna go have fun and whatever happens happens, and just be very thankful and grateful we got to be a part of it.”
The 94th Oscars will air live on ABC on Sunday (March 27) at 8 p.m. ET. Check out the complete list of nominees here.
