Lambert to reach the top only if she sings with a man?
CAN one of country music’s most powerful stars only get a No. 1 hit on the radio if she sings a song with a man?
While it may seem like a wild question to ask in 2018, consider Miranda Lambert: She has sold millions of albums. She headlines arenas. She’s the Academy of Country Music’s most-awarded artist in history. Her fan base is passionately loyal. She has two Grammys and 16 nominations. She’s up for three trophies at Wednesday night’s Country Music Association Awards.
Yet in recent years, after a string of hits earlier this decade, Lambert’s new songs have struggled on radio – which is considered a critical component of country music success, even in the streaming era, as the genre’s stars are expected to dominate the top of the charts. Artists at Lambert’s level don’t necessarily need airplay to ensure sales. But it’s an odd contrast to see her 2016 double album “The Weight of These Wings” go platinum in sales while only one single got near the Top 10 on radio.
Then this summer, Lambert was featured on Jason Aldean’s single “Drowns the Whiskey”. The track steadily climbed to No. 1 in August, about three months after it was released. The two will perform it at the CMAs, where it’s nominated for single and vocal event of the year. It’s always great to have a hit, but how does Lambert feel about the chart disparity?
“Yes, I had to sing with someone with a penis to get a No. 1,” Lambert said matter- of-factly in a recent interview with The Washington Post. “I do like this person, Jason Aldean, a lot . . . so it was a great song with an old friend.”
Lambert continued: “It is interesting that I haven’t had even a Top 20 in a long, long time. And then it goes No. 1 because it’s a dude,” she said. “But you know - if we went and looked at how many singles or records were sold for the Top 10 songs right now, I’d probably triple it on record sales. So it doesn’t matter.”
Country radio is already under extreme scrutiny for its gender imbalance. In 2015, a consultant sparked backlash when he advised country stations to decrease the number of songs by women for higher ratings, and radio has been in the spotlight ever since. There hasn’t been much progress: The Tennessean reported that only 10.4 per cent of songs on country radio charts in 2017 were from female artists, down from 13 per cent the year before.
Since the beginning of Lambert’s career in 2004, radio programmers weren’t quite sure how to feel about the young Texan who sang bluntly about revenge on a cheating ex in “Kerosene” and domestic abuse in “Gunpowder & Lead”.
On an episode of the podcast “This Nashville Life”, a representative at Lambert’s label said programmers initially didn’t “get” Lambert, and couldn’t figure out why her music was so “angry”. ( Sony Music Nashville, Lambert’s label, declined to comment for this story.) Some singles climbed the chart, yet others flopped. But Lambert’s album and concert ticket sales were so impressive that radio couldn’t write her off completely. Eventually, in 2010, she landed her first No. 1 radio hit with “White Liar”.
That was followed by “The House That Built Me”, the Grammy-winning ballad that helped catapult Lambert’s career to the next level. She had a solid run of radio No. 1s with “Heart Like Mine” in 2011, “Over You” in 2012 and “Mama’s Broken Heart” in 2013, along with Keith Urban duet, “We Were Us”.
Lambert’s last No. 1 was “Automatic” in June 2014, the first single off her fifth record, “Platinum”. The next single, a duet with fellow superstar Carrie Underwood, “Somethin’ Bad”, peaked at No. 7; “Little Red Wagon” went to No. 16; “Smokin’ and Drinkin’”, a collaboration with Little Big Town, couldn’t crack the Top 30.
No.1 with Aldean
Then came her album “The Weight of These Wings” in late 2016, after her divorce from Blake Shelton. It was noticeably darker than her previous efforts, and Lambert acknowledged the deeply personal project might not fit at radio, which often craves up-tempo, feel-good tunes. “I know radio’s been a struggle, but I really needed to say these things,” she told HITS Daily Double.
Fans, however, bought the record in droves, and it sold 122,000 copies the first week. “Vice”, the haunting first single, made it to No. 11 on radio in October 2016. “We Should Be Friends” peaked in the mid20s in March 2017. The heartwrenching “Tin Man” only made it to No. 22 in December 2017. “Keeper of the Flame”, released in April, was one of Lambert’s lowest- charting songs ever, and didn’t crack the Top 50.
Timothy Hayes, programme director at the independent 105.7 FM in Lubbock, Texas, noticed this decline when he was a DJ at his former station, where he wrote a blog post titled “Why Can’t Miranda Lambert Get a Hit Single?” Now, he theorises, it’s possible male programmers have trouble relating to Lambert’s music. Or they don’t think the subject matter - the fiery singles or melancholy post- divorce tracks - will connect with their target listener demographic, moms in their mid- 30s. But he doesn’t like the optics of Lambert only now getting a No. 1 with Aldean.
“The fact that it almost felt like Jason had to hold her hand to go up (the chart), to get her a No. 1, like he had to escort her there, it just seemed -” Hayes trailed off. “I just hate that idea. . . . She’s such an amazingly talented person, and there are so many other great songs that just aren’t getting pushed.” — Washington Post