Country superstar Martina McBride talks Girls Like Me, Songland, her philanthropy and what we can expect from her next album
To say Martina McBride is a country music icon is an understatement. She debuted in 1992 and has gone on to release 11 studio albums, a live album, and two greatest hits packages. She has racked up 42 Top 40 Country singles, including 8 Top 40 Pop hits, and been nominated for 14 Grammys and numerous other awards.
She has used her platform to raise millions of dollars for various charities and created her own, Team Music Is Love, which rallies fans to help out various causes, particularly on McBride's tour stops. I sat down with the country music superstar for Pop Culture Weekly to discuss her appearance on NBC's Songland, the new single that came out of it, Girls Like Me, and so much more.
Martina appeared on Songland, where three songwriters presented songs to her, listened to her feedback, then went back and retooled them with some of the industry's leading songwriters, before presenting them to her again. With Martina's career having so many story driven, self empowerment anthems, I asked her how she chose which one to ultimately record and release.
She responded:
"They were all great songs. At the end of the day I went with the one I felt I could relate to the most. Part of the challenge with that song was HALIE was 19 when she wrote it. It sounded very young. The lyric, as it was, sounded like she was going through whatever she's going through right at that moment. I didn't think that would be too believable for me. My fans have been with me a long time. They know I've been married for almost 32 years, I have 3 kids. I'm not going through turmoil right now. So I wanted to sing it from a point of view of how can I say 'we all go through this, we all have insecurities. It's going to be okay.' In a way of giving advice to someone and we were able to do that. I wanted to come off as like a mother, a friend, a sister, that kind of thing."
The song she ultimately chose, Girls Like Me, finds Martina acting as the sister figure empowering a heartbroken girl frustrated by the pain that love can sometimes bring. As so many of Martina's songs are, Girls Like Me is an uplifting, empowering anthem that will have you singing along after the first chorus.
You can watch the whole interview in the video above and listen to the podcast version on this weeks Pop Culture Weekly, where we discuss her career, her philanthropy, what we can expect from her next album and so much more. Girls Like Me is available now to stream for free on the iHeart Radio app. Check out Martina McBride's website for all the latest news on her upcoming album and tour dates.
Check out Kyle Mcmahon and subscribe to the Pop Culture Weekly podcast. You can follow him on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Rizzle and Instagram.v