Reba McEntire Celebrates the Human Spirit With Oscar-Nominated ‘Somehow You Do’ [Watch]
Reba McEntire took to the stage at the 94th annual Academy Awards on Sunday night (March 27). Gracing the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood one day before her 67th birthday, the country music icon delivered a heartfelt performance of “Somehow You Do” from the feature film Four Good Days, starring Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, and Stephen Root.
Standing on a riser amid a shimmery backdrop, McEntire dazzled viewers in a black floor-length Dolce & Gabbana gown embellished with a silver belt buckle. She poured her heart and soul into the lyrics of the inspirational ballad, which is all about finding hope, strength and resilience during troubling and dark times.
“When you think it's the end of the road / It's just 'cuz you don't know where the road's leading to / When you think that the mountain's too high / And the ocean's too wide, you'll never get through / Some way, somehow, somehow you do,” McEntire sings in the song, utilizing her signature twang on the chorus.
She was accompanied on this night by an all-star band which included Travis Barker, Sheila E, Robert Randolph and Kevin Jonas.
Afterwards, the Oscars segued into a brief moment of silence for the people of Ukraine, who have been faced with needing basic items such as food, water and shelter in the midst of war.
This isn’t the first time McEntire has stepped onto the stage as an Oscars-performer. On March 25, 1991, she performed “I’m Checkin’ Out” from the comedy-drama film, Postcards From the Edge. Already an award winner, McEntire was at the height of her career at the time, but also stricken with grief since seven of her band members and her tour manager were tragically killed in a plane crash days prior.
Before returning to the Oscars stage in 2022, the singer told Taste of Country and other outlets that she initially “didn’t feel excited” about the new opportunity to attend the Academy Awards because she felt a “heaviness” in her heart. She then said she later realized she needed to “give it up to” God and let everything happen the way they’re supposed to.
"I said yes to the Oscars in '91, and then the plane crash happened," McEntire recalled on Thursday (March 24), "And then I went and sang the song because I felt [road manager] Jim Hammond talking to me, saying 'Go do it for us. We're checked out of this heartbreak hotel.'"
“Everybody said, ‘Aren’t you excited, aren’t you excited?’ I didn’t feel excited,” she added. “So I finally figured it out yesterday, I thought if I got too excited, something could happen, so I said, ‘God, I’m just gonna give it up to you.’ I don’t know why I didn’t when I first felt this hardness or this heaviness in my heart. So I said, I’m giving it up to you, let me have a good time, let me sing it the way I am supposed to sing it, the way you want me to sing it. It’s your will, not my will.’ And it lifted like a hundred pounds off my shoulders. We went to rehearsal. I had a great time.”
While on the red carpet at the Oscars, McEntire said she was feeling butterflies going into her performance.
"Oh my gosh. You've got the cream of the crop here tonight, and everybody's looking," she told People. “So, yeah. It’s going to be a little nerve-wracking. But I’m ready for it!”
Written and composed by 13-time Academy Award nominee Diane Warren, “Somehow You Do" was nominated for Best Original Song alongside contenders “Dos Oruguitas,” “Down to Joy,” “No Time to Die” and “Be Alive,” with "No Time to Die" taking the prize.
Warren is also behind two of McEntire’s previous tracks — 1991’s “What If” and “I’ll Be” in 2000.
McEntire was one of a handful of performers at the 2022 Academy Awards. Beyoncé, Billie Eilish and Finneas, and Sebastián Yatra also took the stage for performances. McEntire wasn’t the only country artist on hand during the night, either — Keith Urban also offered his support for his wife actress, Nichole Kidman, who was nominated for Best Actress for Being the Ricardos.