Why Reba Doesn’t Feel Excited About Singing At Sunday’s Academy Awards

Why Reba Doesn’t Feel Excited About Singing At Sunday’s Academy Awards | Classic Country Music | Legendary Stories and Songs Videos

PBS NewsHour / YouTube

Country music queen Reba McEntire will be performing at Sunday’s Academy Awards, but the singer says she doesn’t feel excited about the honor due to memories it evokes of a tragedy that struck 31 years ago.

1991 found Reba McEntire at the height of her career. With numerous awards, No. 1 songs and platinum albums to her credit, the singer’s increasingly busy schedule caused her and her band to begin traveling by plane instead of spending numerous hours on the road in a tour bus. But, just 9 days before Reba was scheduled to perform at that year’s Academy Awards, a plane carrying her band crashed killing everyone on board, including seven band members, her road manager, the pilot and the co-pilot.

Despite the heartache she was going through that year, Reba chose to take the stage at the Oscars where she sang “I’m Checkin’ Out” from Postcards From the Edge. The invitation to perform at the 2022 Academy Awards show has caused a flood of emotion from the singer as she relives the feelings she had 31 years ago when she took the stage.

“I was very emotional yesterday about the Oscars, because I said yes to the Oscars in ’91 and then the plane crash happened,” McEntire told reporters on March 24. “And then I went ahead and sang the song because I felt [road manager] Jim Hammon talking to me, saying, ‘Go do it for us. We’re checked out of this heartbreak hotel.'”

When asked if she is excited for her upcoming performance, the “Whoever’s In New England” singer said “I don’t feel excited.”

“And so I finally figured it out yesterday,” she added. “I thought if I got too excited, something could happen. So I said, ‘God, I’m just gonna give it up to you,’ and it lifted like a hundred pounds. We went to rehearsal and I had a great time.”

McEntire will be performing her Academy Award-nominated song “Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days written by 13-time Academy Award nominee Diane Warren. The song is nominated in the Best Original Song category.

Watch Reba McEntire perform by tuning in to the Academy Awards Sunday, March 27, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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