Reba McEntire Embodies ‘Strength of Human Spirit’ at Controversial Oscars
Watch her calming performance of "Somehow You Do."
On a 94th Academy Awards night fraught with conflict, country icon Reba McEntire offered a moment of peaceful power. Singing her Best Original Song nominee “Somehow You Do” from the film Four Good Days, she emobdied what actress Mila Kunis described as “the strength of the human spirit.”
Standing alone on a small pedestal near center stage, McEntire put off a calming presence throughout her Sunday night (March 27) performance. Shew as draped in an understatd black gown by Dolce & Gabbana, and with her signature red hair pulled up off her shoulders, sung with a controlled rush of emotional waves. Meanwhile, a band full of stars in their own right backed her up.
Blink 182’s Travis Barker was on drums, Robert Randolph playyed his sacred steel guitar, and Jonas Brothers’ Kevin Jonas and percussion maven Sheila E joined in, all in front of a backdrop that resembled the breaking of a new dawn.
By the end, McEntire had successful brought the Diane Warren-penned song of resilience to life, with her boyfriend Rex Linn offering a pair of thumbs up and the show’s producers asking for a moment of silence in its wake, to honor the citizens of Ukraine.
Before thew show, McEntire had spoken of feeling conflicted about the performance — since her last Oscar appearance took place nine days after a 1991 plane crash claimed the lives of her band and crew.
“I said ‘God I’m just gonna give it up to you,’” she said. “I don’t know why I felt this … heaviness … in my heart, so I just said ‘I’m giving it all up to you. Let me have a good time. Let me sing it the way I’m supposed to sing it, the way you want me to sing it — your way not mine.’”
Sadly, “Somehow You Do” did not end up winning the award for Best Original Song, with the Oscar going to Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for “No Time to Die” instead.
