In the latest country music crossover, Meghan Trainor took the stage at the CMAs to sing her hit, “All About That Bass,” with Miranda Lambert. And while I love both ladies, I’m admittedly a bit confused by the collaboration.
Country music is no stranger to inter-genre team-ups as of late. Trainor and Lambert’s duet comes on the heels of crossover hits like Nelly and Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise,” Natasha Bedingfield and Rascal Flatts’ “Easy,” Ludacris and Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem Remix” and Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles’ “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.”
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So, it’s not that I’m not a fan of country music crossovers. To the contrary, I adore them. I certainly think they have a place in modern country music.
And when it comes specifically to Trainor and Lambert hitting the stage to belt out “All About That Bass” — which, for the record, I shamelessly dance around to every single time it comes on the radio — it’s not that I didn’t enjoy the performance.
Granted, I thought for two badass chicks like that, there might have been a bit more rocking out.
Still, I thought it was good. I sang along. Yes, I even danced around my living room, as I am wont to do. What nagged at me, though, was the juxtaposition of the song’s message of self-acceptance and Lambert’s markedly more petite frame.
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Don’t get me wrong… Lambert looks amazing. Like, really amazing. And, for the record, I think she appears fit and healthy.
But, I imagine much of the impact of this particular collaboration was supposed to come from the very deliberate pairing of Trainor with Lambert, a woman who has gracefully handled idle gossip about her weight for years and who (until recently) always seemed to embrace her size — no matter what it was.
As Lambert sang the lyrics to Trainor’s ubiquitous hit, though, I couldn’t help but feel like it was forced.
“Yeah, it’s pretty clear, I ain’t no size two/But I can shake it, shake it, like I’m supposed to do.”
Only, Lambert looks as though she falls closer on the spectrum to a size two these days than she does to, well, the size of a woman who does in fact have “a little more booty to hold at night.” And there’s nothing wrong with that. Again, Lambert is glowing these days.
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My issue here is that show producers chose to make an example of Lambert by pairing her with Trainor, but I’m just not entirely convinced that the pairing came across as authentic or achieved its desired effect.
So, there it is. Bottom line? I just didn’t buy it. And, based on the lack of her usual over-the-top performance style and spirit, I don’t think Lambert did either.
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