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Tag: Martina McBride

  • Alicia Keys Remembers That Time John Mayer Showed Her Love At the Grammys

    Alicia Keys has certainly had her fair share of amazing Grammy memories considering the 15 Grammys she has won thus far, but she says one particular memory involving John Mayer sticks with her.

    In 2002, the 34-year-old songstress picked up five Grammy Awards for her debut album Songs in A Minor. Even though that was certainly a memorable year, she says her favorite Grammy memory involves John Mayer from 2005.

    “John Mayer was up for Daughters and I was up for If I Ain’t Got You, and John Mayer won,” the singer told CBS This Morning about the show in 2005, when both stars were nominated for Song of the Year.

    “I loved that song Daughters, and I remember he got up on stage and he said … either onstage or backstage, but the point was that he felt that I should’ve won that award,” said Keys.

    Mayer went so far in his conviction that she should share the award that took apart his Grammy award and gave Keys the top half, keeping only the bottom half with his name on it.

    “So as far as I’m concerned, I won that!” Keys told CBS of the award that now sits on her shelf at home along with her other Grammy Awards.

    On Monday, Keys announced the top four categories on CBS This Morning for 2016’s show. Taylor Swift garnered seven nominations, while Kendrick Lamar picked up 11 nominations.

    On Friday, Keys joined Ciara, Martina McBride, Paul Rudd, Hillary Scott, Jussie Smollett and Hailee Steinfeld to present Billboard’s 2015 Women in Music awards at a gala in New York City.

  • Martina McBride Riles Up Supporters Against Music Exec

    Martina McBride is mad about statements mede by a consultant about women in country music radio. Many media outlets are calling the statements sexist, but the man who made them insists he was just passing along data.

    Keith Hill, a consultant for more than 300 country music radio stations, said in a recent interview that country radios should stop playing as many songs by female artists to help boost ratings.

    Martina McBride took issue with his remark. She posted to Facebook:

    “Wow…..just wow. Just read this from a major country radio publication. How do you feel about this statement? I especially want to hear from the females. Do you not like to hear other women singing about what you are going through as women? I’m really curious. Because to me, country music is about relating. Someone relating to what you are really going through on a day to day basis in your life. Did you girls (core female listeners) know you were being “assessed” in this way? Is this how you really feel? Hmmm….”

    Of course, this question was addressed to her Facebook followers, who obviously like at least her in country music. They may not have been the best focus group to ask. They’re already filtered by virtue of liking her page.

    But Keith Hill appears to be basing his recommendation on research, not personal preference. According to him, the biggest reason to cut female singers out of rotation is that the stations’ female listeners don’t want to hear them.

    “If you want to make ratings in Country radio, take females out,” Keith Hill said. “The reason is mainstream Country radio generates more quarter hours from female listeners at the rate of 70 to 75%, and women like male artists. I’m basing that not only on music tests from over the years, but more than 300 client radio stations. The expectation is we’re principally a male format with a smaller female component. I’ve got about 40 music databases in front of me and the percentage of females in the one with the most is 19%. Trust me, I play great female records and we’ve got some right now; they’re just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females.”

    When Martina McBride invited her fans and followers to chime in on these statements, the facts of the research went out the window. Instead she received comments like:

    “Saying that it’s primarily a male format with a smaller female component seems hopelessly outdated, something we might have expected forty years ago, not today.”

    But Hill said his recommendation was based on research and feedback from stations today, not forty years ago.

    Some even attacked Hill himself, as though he were guilty of sexinsm rather than reporting data as he saw it from clients.

    “Keep doing what you are doing, you have devoted listeners! He is a chauvinist!”

    “I think we should all throw tomatoes (ourselves) at him! What an idiot!”

    Martina McBride did get some feedback from people in actual positions to know what they were talking about. Counrty star Carlene Carter said:

    “Good God Ladies! Are they still as silly as they were back in the 90’s! I was told early on by WB that women just didn’t buy women’s records, and since they were the people buying not to count on sales in the same way as men could. What a complete crock! Martina you have certainly proved them wrong over and over about this.”

    Another useful perspective came from this fellow:

    “I am a radio programmer. I have never subscribed to this belief. 10 years in, my ratings are better than fine. Carry on.”

    Wow…..just wow. Just read this from a major country radio publication. How do you feel about this statement? I…

    Posted by Martina McBride on Tuesday, May 26, 2015

  • Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride Slam Sexist Country Music Radio Station Executive

    Miranda Lambert and Martina McBride are just two women in country music both astonished and offended by a remark made by a country music radio station executive this past week.

    Keith Hill oversees 300 country music radio stations. He pretty much said during a recent interview for Country Aircheck that country radio needed to “take females out” in order to boost their station’s ratings.

    “Trust me, I play great female records and we’ve got some right now; they’re just not the lettuce in our salad,” Hill added. “The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females.”

    A comment like Keith Hill’s doesn’t take long to spread via social media. Country music fans and artists picked up on it and slammed the exec for his sexist comment and his stupidity.

    Miranda Lambert is disgusted.

    Martina McBride shares Miranda Lambert’s dismay, and posted her thoughts on Facebook.

    Wow…..just wow. Just read this from a major country radio publication. How do you feel about this statement? I…

    Posted by Martina McBride on Tuesday, May 26, 2015

    And to further prove that Keith Hill is completely off his rocker with his most unfortunate comment, Shane McAnally stood up for the ladies of country music, too.

    Wouldn’t you love to hear what Miranda Lambert’s husband–Blake Shelton–has to say about this? He not only supports his wife, but promotes adding women to the country music world. Just look at the young women he has mentored via The Voice–Danielle Bradbury and Cassadee Pope.

    In Miranda Lambert and Martina McBride’s eyes, it’s on. It will be interesting to learn what–if anything–Keith Hill says about women in country music during his next interview.

    It seems a few ‘tomatoes’ have been thrown in his direction–with more likely to come.

  • Trace Adkins Drops SeaWorld Performance Amid “Blackfish” Controversy

    Add Trace Adkins to the long list of musicians who have already dropped their shows at SeaWorld. While it was originally just the animal activists fighting for the treatment of the whales, everyone is starting to join in, and realizing how poorly the orcas are treated while in captivity.

    Amid the controversy surrounding the theme park since the release of the groundbreaking documentary Blackfish, it seems that no musician wants to have their name attached to SeaWorld anymore.

    Trace Adkins’ performance is different than the original series of scheduled shows that had seen big time names such as Willie Nelson, Martina McBride and several others cancel. Those musicians were all a part of SeaWorld’s “Bands, Blues and BBQ” series that currently has no musicians scheduled to play anymore.

    The mass strike from the musical acts from SeaWorld’s calendar began soon after CNN’s broadcast of the documentary Blackfish in October.

    While in some cases, documentaries are embraced by a small crowd and are not given much mainstream attention, Blackfish has worked at great lengths to change the minds about how people all over the country view SeaWorld, prompting people to want to have it shut down.

    In a statement that was sent in an email from a representative of Trace Adkins’ to CNN, it was reported that “Trace prefers that the focus of his performances be on music, not on controversy. Therefore, he has decided not to proceed with this show in the midst of this debate.”

    Blackfish is a documentary that tells the story of the killing of a SeaWorld trainer in 2010. It also helps to raise questions about the safety and humaneness of keeping the killer whales in captivity, in addition to how they are captured in the wild.

    Celebrities have continued to speak out, with singers refusing to perform and several actors have seen the film, and then taken to social media outlets to tell everyone else to do so, and to avoid SeaWorld.

    Post by The Cove.

    Trace Adkins has made a bold move in joining several other musical acts in refusing to have their name attached with SeaWorld due to the power that Blackfish has had. How many more of these cancellations will need to happen in order for the park to be shut down for good? Will it happen?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Martina McBride Cancels SeaWorld Performance

    Martina McBride is the latest musician to back out of a scheduled performance at SeaWorld. Since the release of the documentary film Blackfish, performers have been petitioned by animal rights groups, and encouraged to back out because of SeaWorld’s poor record of treatment for their animals. The film depicts the treatment of an orca that killed its SeaWorld trainer back in 2010.

    McBride joins Trisha Yearwood, Cheap Trick, .38 Special and REO Speedwagon in dropping out of the Brews, Bands and BBQ concert series for 2014. Only Scotty McCreery and Justin Moore remain on the roster.

    Martina McBride announced her decision to her Facebook fans on Saturday.

    “I’ve decided that given all the issues that have been aired recently, the time isn’t right for me to play at Seaworld. I have cancelled my scheduled performance at the Bands, Blues & BBQ event in March 2014,” she wrote.

    More than 20,000 signatures were collected by fans on a Change.org petition, urging Martina to cancel her concert at SeaWorld.

    Celebrities–both those scheduled to play at SeaWorld and those simply concerned about the information Blackfish brings to light, have expressed their feelings via Twitter.

    SeaWorld, of course, dismisses all of the allegations in Blackfish. They claim inaccuracy prevails throughout the documentary. It will certainly be interesting to see if Scotty McCreery and Justin Moore follow Martina McBride and the rest of the performers who have backed out of the SeaWorld concerts because of the film and the animal rights groups that support it.

    Image via Facebook

  • Martina McBride, .38 Special Cancel SeaWorld Performances

    Following suit with six others that have also been scheduled to perform and recently cancelled, Martin McBride and 38 Special have refused to perform at SeaWorld.

    Since the release of the buzzed about documentary Blackfish, many people have become more aware of the some of the unsafe and inhumane practices that are done involving the whales at SeaWorld.

    Over the weekend, REO Speedwagon became the latest musical act to cancel their performance at the theme park. Shortly after, Martina McBride joined in, and then 38 Special.

    The Blackfish documentary has created a huge backlash against the Orlando theme park, and several celebrities have made a point to recommend Blackfish, and avoid SeaWorld since then, advising others to do the same.

    In a concert series that originally had 10 acts scheduled to play in a series called “Bands, BBQ and Brew,” with the latest two cancellations, only two artists remain. Justin Moore and Scotty McCreery are the two remaining artists, and while fans continue to put the pressure on, their representatives have not responded to CNN’s repeated requests for comment.

    Martina Mcbride announced the news of her cancellation via her facebook page, while 38 Special did the same days after.

    Post by Martina McBride.

    Post by .38 Special.

    For those that have not had the opportunity to see the chilling film yet, Blackfish tells the story of SeaWorld’s inhumane treatment of the whales, and the news has been brought to the attention of people all over in the past year. After the documentary came out, it has been covered on RealTime With Bill Maher, CNN, and several other news outlets, in addition to being called one of the best documentaries of the year.

    Martina McBride and .38 Special join a list which before this weekend included Trisha Yearwood, Willie Nelson, Cheap Trick, Heart and Barenaked Ladies, with Barenaked Ladies being the first act to drop out.

    In what was once an anticipated series of well-known musical acts, the lineup has almost completely dissapeared. According to CNN, the park’s six-week concert schedule has disappeared from SeaWorld’s website. It now simply promises “incredible concerts with top artists in classic rock and country music.”

    With eight out of 10 acts already gone from the lineup including country star Martina McBride, and as more fans and celebrities continue to urge people to stay away from SeaWorld, is a full boycott in the near future? SeaWorld, once a park of famliy fun, has now turned into a place that nobody wants to go because of the way that the whales are being treated.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • SeaWorld Documentary Making Waves

    SeaWorld Documentary Making Waves

    SeaWorld continues to undergo scrutiny after the film, “Blackfish” was released. The documentary discusses the captivity of killer whale Tilikum and its role in the deaths of three individuals while revealing specific practices used at the park.

    The film made the list for the Best Documentary at the Oscars last week. SeaWorld claims the film is not an accurate representation of their policies and park life.

    Not only has this been bad press for the Orlando park, it’s affected their business. The park’s Brews, Bands and BBQ concert series has lost a number of acts in relation to the bad press. So far, Martina McBride, Cheep Trick, REO Speedwagon, Heart, Barenaked Ladies, Willie Nelson and Trisha Yearwood have canceled their scheduled performances.

    Not familiar with the documentary? Here’s the trailer.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OEjYquyjcg

    The only artists that haven’t dropped yet include Justin Moore, Scotty McCreey and .38 Special.

    Apparently all acts had received pressure from animal rights groups and petitions on Change.org in relation to how the marine life is treated.

    Fans and supporters are in on the petitions, encouraging the bands for canceling. Followers replied graciously to the announcement REO Speedwagon made about their SeaWorld cancelation on Twitter.

    YouTube users seemed to be in support of the film as well.

    Jrandjanet22 said, “I do not mind zoo’s or other habitats that help to save species, the difference here is that they are forced to perform to entertain. HUGE DIFFERENCE.”

    vegan truth6 said, “Boycott sea world!, Good people of the earth, please fight for these sentient animals.”

    Another user said, “SeaWorld and other water parks maybe fun to attend? However, it is completely against the nature of these amazing beautiful creatures to be held captive. Their genetics are to roam and discover. Held in a fish tank they go crazy. So Sad.”

    What do you think about SeaWorld? Have you watched Blackfish? Leave your reactions in the comments below.

    Photo Credit: YouTube