Reba McEntire Explains Why She Thinks Her Career Took off So Slowly at First

It’s no secret that Reba McEntire is a household name. It feels like she’s been everywhere, from Broadway to The Voice. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine a time when McEntire wasn’t one of the most revered country stars out there. But really, it wasn’t until she released her eighth album, My Kind Of Country, that the country star saw true success and recognition. It took a lot of trial, error, and struggle before she made it to where she is today.

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According to her, though, the way people get successful now is totally different from back when she was trying to get off the ground. She talks about this in her 1994 memoir, Reba: My Story.

“People have asked me why I think my career took off so slowly compared to today’s singers,” McEntire shares. “Nowadays, an artist will cut one record, have a hit, and will be working for ten thousand dollars a night within a year.”

As Reba explains, videos were not yet a way for her to reach audiences. This definitely played a role in the amount of visibility she could achieve. In addition, being a female country singer with little to no prominence also made things difficult.

“When I started out,” Reba writes, “I had two strikes against me, one because I was a female. With the exception of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, and Tammy Wynette there weren’t many women who were headline acts in country music,” she writes. “Secondly, I wasn’t famous. Nashville didn’t have the surplus of songwriters in the 70s that it has today, and the good ones wouldn’t pitch their songs to an unknown.”

However, as the singer goes on to reveal, she never gave up on herself. Honestly, that probably ended up being the ticket to her widespread success.

Reba on the Responsibility She Feels To Younger Artists

To many, Reba McEntire is the blueprint of country music success. However, she doesn’t see herself that way. When asked what she thinks about being called a “legend” or a “trailblazer”, here’s what Reba had to say:

“When I hear those words, I think Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Barbara Mandrell, Anne Murray, and Minnie Pearl,” she told TODAY. “All of those women are the pioneers, the icons, the legends that I got to learn from.”

Reba was also asked about the new generation of songwriters and artists who look up to her. She admitted that being admired is actually a big responsibility.

“It’s a cool feeling, it’s a huge responsibility, because I definitely want to, in my span that I get to do this, I want to find ways of doing it better so it’ll make it easier on them,” she shared.

“Then it’s their responsibility to move forward, find a better way of doing something, for the people coming up next behind them.”

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