The Voice is usually known for its great performances and wild antics between coaches (especially if Blake Shelton is involved). However, Reba McEntire brought heartbreak to the stage with a tender tribute to her late mother.
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The singer sang a rendition of “Seven Minutes in Heaven,” which she recorded as a way of processing the grief of her mother’s death. Jacqueline Smith passed away in 2020. McEntire put on a show, but you can feel the rawness of her lyrics as autumn leaves fell on the stage.
Lyrics to the song included, “If I had seven minutes in Heaven / I know just what I’d do / Take a walk down those golden streets / And find a quiet corner booth / I wouldn’t spend all my seconds asking God questions / ‘Cause He knows I’d be back soon / If I had seven minutes in Heaven / I’d spend them all with you.”
The performance was capped with a black and white photo of her mother in the background, bringing the song to its devastating conclusion. McEntire also previously recorded a music video to the song, which featured a stand-in of her late mother.
However, McEntire almost chose to withdraw from singing completely after her mother’s passing. In an interview with Today, the singer explained she didn’t have the motivation anymore. She said, “Oh I didn’t want to (sing). I told my little sister Susie when we were working at the house, I said, ‘I don’t know if I want to sing anymore.’ She said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Because I always sang for Mama.'”
McEntire’s mother had been one of her biggest motivators. “Mama was the one that inspired us kids, taught us kids how to sing, took us to our singing gigs and was our biggest cheerleader. She said, ‘Reba, I will be living my dreams through you.’ So golly, why wouldn’t you want to go sing?”
However, McEntire cites her boyfriend Rex Lynn as someone who helped her move forward. As such McEntire got back to work and has been a positive force so far during The Voice, motivating hopefuls to pursue their dreams.
“When you have somebody to share the grief with, when you have somebody to share the fun (and) the sad times, it’s always so much better,” she said. “And Rex is a very uplifting, positive man, and I love him with all my heart.”
[Photo by NBC/The Voice]
