In 2009, Reba McEntire reached a new career high with Keep on Loving You, her 25th studio album, which topped both the Billboard 200 and Country charts. Nearly 96,000 fans snapped up copies in the first week, a feat that pushed McEntire past Loretta Lynn to claim the record for most No. 1 albums by a female country artist.
For McEntire, the milestone was more than another impressive career stat. It was numerical proof of endurance in an industry that can favor up-and-comers over established hitmakers. At a time when physical sales were shrinking, she kept interest high and set a record with her 25th album — reminding Nashville that experience comes with results.
“I wanted to name the album Keep On Loving You because it’s a tribute to my fans,” McEntire said in the album’s official notes. “You’ve always been there for me, and I’m going to keep on loving you.”
The album is home to songs including four-week No. 1 hit “Consider Me Gone,” Top 10 hits “Strange” and “I Keep On Loving You,” and fan favorites “Just When I Thought I’d Stopped Loving You” and “I Want a Cowboy.”
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Reba: “Look, We Got a Problem Here”
“It’s about this woman who is a confrontational woman,” she told Sirius of “Consider Me Gone.” “This lady, well, she takes the bull by the horns, and she says, ‘Look, we got a problem here.’ He’s still not paying any attention. So she said, ‘If I’m not the one thing you can’t stand to lose, consider me gone. I’m out of here.’”
Slant Magazine‘s Jonathan Keefe described Keep On Loving You as “an aggressive bid to prove that she’s still a major commercial force.” He praised McEntire’s vocal artistry and said the album showcased her adaptability in an evolving market.
McEntire told Walmart that ” Keep On Loving You was an “eclectic group of songs” that she started collecting about eight months before she went into the studio to record. The singer and her team informed Nashville songwriters and publishers that she was preparing to enter the recording studio. They started sending her demos and CDs that she, her record label, and management company listened to.
“We’re all looking for that great monster song,” McEntire said on SiriusXM. “And that’s what’s so hard because everybody else in the business is looking for that monster song. So, everybody’s in there looking and really fighting for those great songs.”
Reba McEntire’s Song Selection Process is Unchanged
At one point, she had about 200 songs on hold for the album. She whittled it down to 15.
While Keep on Loving You was her 25th studio album, she said her process, or what she was looking for in songs to record, hadn’t changed in 25 albums.
“I probably use the same formula that I always have,” she told Sirius XM. “It’s those songs that touch my heart. Those are the songs that I listen to and that I gravitate toward. And those are the ones I want to sing. Because if I can sing a song that touches my heart, hopefully, when I sing it, it touches your heart.”
She said the album had “sad songs, slow songs, story songs, sassy songs, emotional songs, break-up and love type songs.” And she admitted there was always pressure to top herself in the recording studio.
“If you went in like, ‘Oh, well, if it doesn’t beat the last one, why go in?’” she told Sirius XM. “You always want to improve. You always want to do better.”
A singer and actress on screens big and small, Reba McEntire has sold more than 75 million records throughout her career. Since the 1970s, she has charted more than 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, with 25 of them reaching No. 1. She starred in her self-named television series, Reba, for six seasons, coached on The Voice, and now anchors her NBC series, Happy’s Place.
(Photo by Jason Davis/WireImage)
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