Reba Releases 27th Album

Reba is back with her first new album in five years called “Love Somebody.”  Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton asked if she approached this one with a different process: “Not really.  It’s the same formula I’ve always used, just try to find the best songs possible, the ones that touch my heart.  If they touch my heart, hopefully they’ll touch your heart, and if they do, then I’ve done my job.  The only difference is that there are some new songwriters.”

Is there a difference with writers today vs. writers 20 years ago? “Well yeah, things are on the more pop-ish side than they were, and more aggressive on the instrumentation.”

Are the lyrics different than they were? “I think that the song ‘Enough’ reminds me of ‘Does He Love You,’ that I sang in 1994.  It’s the same subject matter.  I wouldn’t say it’s more racy.  Some of it’s more clever.  Like ‘Until They Don’t Love You’ is very cleverly written.  But it’s another version of songs I’ve done before.  Just a little different twist, different instrumentation makes them more modern.  But how many things can you write about?”

Take me through the album and tell me about lyrical content: “Well there’s ‘She Got Drunk Last Night,’ about a woman getting drunk enough to make that call.  You can hear a guy doing that, but maybe not a woman.”  Lon asked which call is that?  “You know what I mean.  You mean a booty call?  But then there’s ‘Til They Don’t Love You.’  Everybody’s been there.  Or the single, ‘Going Out Like That,’ where she’s not going to sit there and have a pity party, but she’s going to go out and have a great time.  Another song is ‘That’s When I Knew I Was Over You.’  She knew she was over her other guy when  she looked in the new one’s eyes and didn’t see the previous guy.  It’s an eclectic group of songs, but the main theme is love, and that’s why we called the album ‘Love Somebody.'”

You also have a lot of strong woman songs.  Is that what you’re drawn to? “Yes, that’s what I tend to turn to.  My grandmother and my mother were strong women, so that’s what I like to hear.  Songs that are woman anthems, and give women hope and faith.”

What drives you to work so much? “What drives me is I love to work.  I can’t stand to be bored.  I love to be creative.  I love looking for songs, and getting in the studio.  I was sad when we finished this album.”

The new album comes at a milestone moment in Reba’s career.  This year marks 40 years since she became a recording artist, and she just celebrated her 60th birthday a couple weeks ago.  “I love what I’m doing, I love to get to do the residency in Las Vegas, and looking ahead, this marks the 25th anniversary of Tremors, which was my first movie, so maybe somewhere in the future, I’ll get to do an authentic Western.”  Is that a possibility? “Nothing’s on the drawing board and I haven’t seen a script, but I’ve been putting it out in the universe.”

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