The Faith Hill - Carrie Underwood Flap

I am a huge country music fan.  I absolutely love it and listen all the time.  I am also a huge Carrie Underwood fan.  I have been impressed not only by her voice, but by how much she has accomplished over the past year and how well she has carried herself.  She always appears beautiful, but more importantly she always acts beautiful, always coming across as gracious and sincere and genuinely humble and appreciative of her success. 

I watched the CMT special that followed Underwood through the making of her debut album (CD for the kiddies).  It is amazing what she accomplished in record short time.  The producers and other professionals she worked with were impressed not only with her talent, but by her attitude and how hard she worked and how well she dealt with the stress of the situation.  They started out skeptical that this American Idol winner was the real deal, but they were completely convinced by the timet he album was cut.  My daughter received Underwood's CD for Christmas last year and we have listened to it over and over and over again.  It is an excellent album.  I can imagine almost any of the individual songs as hit singles. 

I did not see the portion of the CMA awards that has been so controversial, but have since watched it several times on You Tube.  I bought Faith Hill's excuse that she was joking until I read Leann Rimes' defense of her, which was anything but joking, and made me wonder.  Here is the best report I have seen of the controversy.  Here is Rimes' defense of Hill, which she has since pulled from her website.

"Okay, I usually keep quiet on topics like this but I feel I need to stand up for my friend, Faith. She was just being honest and emotional like every other person sitting at home with an opinion. These awards shows are SO political and we all get fed up with them. We all work very hard and have for many years so to see someone come in and win Female Vocalist that has been here for a VERY short time, is a little disheartening."

She went on to say, "That is why we have the Horizon award and Carrie had an incredible year, enough to sweep that one. I don't think Faith was angry about her loss, she probably felt, as I did that Carrie has not paid her dues long enough to fully deserve that award. As artists and public figures, we have to keep our feelings so repressed so we don't get called ungrateful as Faith has on this board many times now. She is a very sweet and gracious woman, whom I adore. Please cut her some slack!"

My response to that is bull.  The award is for female vocalist of the YEAR, not for lifetime achievement.  That is why we have living legend awards and other hall of fame type honors.  Carrie Underwood has to date had three number one country singles from her debut album. (I don't think that even includes her first single, which was the American Idol pop hit.) It has been almost impossible to listen to country music radio over the past year for more than an hour without hearing a Carrie Underwood song.  And the songs are really good.  I love Martina McBride and Sara Evans and Gretchen Wilson, but even as successful as they have been, none of them have had the year Carrie Underwood has.  The fact that this is her first album, in my mind, only makes her all the more deserving of the honor.

As for Faith Hill, she fell out of favor with many in the country audience when she went pop and did the acting thing.  She attempted to come back to her country roots this past year with a song addressing what some fans think, titled Mississippi Girl, and it was well received.  The song was great.  She released at least one other single from the CD that I did not care for.  If she had won the award I would not have said that she did not deserve it, but I would have thought she did not deserve it any more than Carrie Underwood or some of the others.  Carrie had a bigger year than any of the others and in my mind was a very deserving winner.  Congrats Carrie!

Update:  This post and the fact that Hill made the gesture in a place she knew people would see her, has me convinced that Hill was almost certainly joking, but evidently her friend Leann Rimes wasn't. 

Comments

[pjaykc]

I agree with you totally, Lorie. I picked Carrie out early in the Idol contest simply because she looks so much like one of my granddaughters. When she actually won, I was delighted. She seems to be very grounded and hasn't gotten big-headed and always thanks American Idol for giving her the big chance--unlike Kelly Clarkson who acts like she would like to forget it had anything to do with her success. As far as Lee Ann and Faith, and Shania Twain, for that matter--they have gotten so slick and polished that they don't even seem very country anymorej--except that's where they make their money.

[Loser]

I also saw the Faith Hill video...once or twice. It looked like a joke to me. It had the exaggeration of someone who was not serious.

Perhaps Leann was expressing her own frustrations. Look, she was once a newcomer--when she was fourteen. She took the country by storm, too. Many performers start big and then decline later on. Nothing new there, so what is the big deal?
Is Leann jealous? Has she really paid her dues?

Carrie's success is due to a variety of factors, some of which is the songs that she or others picked, but she had to have both the talent and hard work to pull it off.

Good luck to all of them.

[BlueJeanPreachin]

OK, wait a minute. LeeAnn Rimes, talking about people having to "pay their dues" in country music? I guess she forgot all the press and attention she got for being 13 years old??? And let's not forget about Ms. Hill either. She managed to shoot up the charts, sell a ton of records, and win awards in a very short period of time.

Did Faith Hill do what she did as a joke? Perhaps. But for Ms. Rimes to spit out the kind of defense that she did is absolutely laughable.

[patricia]

I just recently heard about the flap about Faith Hill being ungracious and angry over the win by Carrie Underwood. As a very recent fan of country music (never listened to it until I actually moved to the country)I think Faith Hill is more pop than country. Still she is a wonderful entertainer and after seeing the video you see it is a joke. I mean how exaggerated was her look.Come on!! You could see it was a joke. Now another singer LeeAnn stirred the pot on this one. She never should have spoke for Faith Hill, unless Faith sanctioned it which no one really knows for sure. Faith Hill is at a place where she does not need to win every award. I think the fact that she is beautiful, talented, married to Tim McGraw, rich etc. bothers people. You never read any trash about her, her children, her marriage, nothing, so this was an opportunity for all the haters (what my daughters call jealous people) to besmirch her...How very sad...I guess Faith will sit with a poker face from now on.

[Diane Kesner]

What I think is interesting about the Faith and Leann comments is that, come on, isn't it funny that they are jealous? Carrie should just get a chuckle out of that but being the sincere and caring person that she is, she wouldn't even be that way. Not only is Carrie the BEST, but her personality is so amazing and genuine. Koodos to you Carrie. You go girl! Simon was right, as usual. He predicted that she would have more #1 hits that any American Idol ever.

[Heather]

Being the first time seeing the video it appears to me that it was serious-afterall it is a reaction. And reactions are always true and honest, however it is the aftermath that contradicts it. Of course, if she took the time to think before reacting she would have never did what she did. With all respect to Ms. Hill her vocal quality, preserverance and overall star quality is nothing in comparison to Carrie Underwood. Once you marry, have children and team up with your husband to gain national stardom you automatically lose star quality. This is a known fact in all sectors of the music industry and Hollywood. Carrie is the freshest face in Country since the Dixie Chicks as is Beyonce or Christina Aguilera since Madonna or Celine Dion. Everyone knows that vocally Celine Dion can kick Brittney Spears anyday, however in the end- who gets the award? On the other hand- I'd rather have class than a slimy award saying I was popular just for that one year.

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