Reba McEntire Thinks Reselling the Same Songs is ‘Kind of Cheating’: ‘I Don’t Have a Good Feeling About That’
Reba McEntire understands the desire for artists with many hit songs behind them to revisit those tunes, but she doesn’t think re-releasing the same songs after a number of years is necessarily fair to fans. Read on to learn more about why she thinks reselling music is “kind of cheating” and how the country music icon worked around it.
Reba McEntire did the same songs differently for ‘Revived, Remixed, Revisited’
After her mother’s death, weeks spent in lockdown for the pandemic, and a postponed tour, McEntire was ready to return to work in 2021. And her label thought of trying something with her old songs that got her attention. They pitched her the triple album, Revived, Remixed, Revisited.
“They had the idea of doing 10 songs with the band, the way we perform them in concert, 10 songs in a dance mix version, and 10 songs stripped down,” she told the New York Times about her label’s pitch. “I said, ‘OK, there you go.”
She liked the idea of reimagining her old music for a new audience and not taking the direction of another greatest hits compilation album. She explained, “We’re doing the same songs, but we’re doing them differently.”
“It’s not like reselling the same thing. I don’t have a good feeling about that — they’ve already got them! I feel that’s kind of cheating,” she added.
Reba McEntire recruited Dolly Parton for a new take on one of her old songs
One of McEntire’s songs to receive a makeover for Revived, Remixed, Revisited was “Does He Love You,” in which she originally performed a hit duet with Linda Davis. But for the 2021 version, she asked Dolly Parton to join her for a musical reinvention.
They didn’t record their parts of the song together because of the pandemic, but they filmed the music video together when socializing was safer. “My favorite part of shooting the video with Dolly was getting to visit with her in between shots,” McEntire told reporters (per Sounds of Nashville). “Second was singing with her. But just to hang out and visit like girlfriends was so much fun.”
Reba McEntire’s opening song for ‘Reba’ is still a relatable ‘anthem’
McEntire’s old hit “I’m a Survivor” found new fans on TikTok before she put it on the triple album. And she thinks that’s because the song, which was used in the opening for her sitcom, Reba, is relatable.
“It’s been a wonderful journey,” she said to reporters. “Professionally, personally, all the highs and lows. We’re all survivors, and I think that’s an anthem that everyone should be proud of. We’ve had to deal with a lot, especially over the last two years, and we know we can get through this together.”
But McEntire hasn’t just been thinking about her old music. She also said she used some of her time in pandemic isolation for writing songs. “I probably wrote and co-wrote more than I have in the last 10 years,” she shared. So, fans can be hopeful she’ll be releasing more new music soon.
