Lack of Female Nominations for Entertainer of the Year Disappoints Carrie Underwood

Excellent. So I can die now? I saw Willie last year and that’s *exactly* what I said. “Not the best concert I’ve ever been to but definitely one to check off my list”

And congrats to Dierks & Cassidy :)

It’s disappointing that they haven’t been, because I know — and I’m speaking for all of us — how hard women have to work. Not to take anything away from the guys, but we have to do a lot more than they have to do. … It’s unfortunate that a lot more women haven’t gotten a lot more credit.

It’s hard to know exactly what she’s saying here but I wonder if she isn’t referring to the “Taylor Swiftization” of younger women’s personalities. I saw Underwood a few times back in her early career and she didn’t dress the way she does now or even look close to the way she does now. I’m sure she’s always been sexy but not in the supercharged way she puts herself out there now. Same with many new women singers (if not all, with differing degrees of success.)

I don’t think I know many women who would choose to stand on a stage on national television and become a sophisticated wet T-shirt contest winner. In private, sure, but most aren’t cut that way and if you are, there is lots of money to be made stripping.

Does it seems possible that all women in country music have simply found a more lucrative form of stripping and are game?

As men and even women fans, it’s easy to say they have a choice. But these women have lots of money being thrown at them. I’d like to think I wouldn’t change but it would be great to hire a cabana girl.

I wonder if she’s talking in code.

you got a point, I cant say that I ever heard Alan Jackson complain to me when he was stocking shelves ;) i am sure he loved it!

I also don’t see how that’s true. I guess it’s just comedic to me that anybody that has a high-grossing country career complains about their success. There are many things that are more difficult!

i think what she means that its hard for women to get overall acceptance and respect in the country world. On face its such a male dominated sphere of music. Faith and Shania, I remember, had to withstand a lot of scorn from their peers for many years when they tried to compete with the big boys in terms of awards for album of the year and even record sales. Remember when Garth was giving his acceptance speech for his award, he said “I’d like to thank all the boys in country radio”. females traditionally have been sidelined and have had to work twice as hard to gain respect and push through in the field.

++ females traditionally have been sidelined and have had to work twice as hard to gain respect and push through in the field. ++

I agree in general terms but not in Carrie’s case. She found a short-cut to the big time.

I think Carrie had payed her dues relative to other country female acts right now. People let Miranda off easily, but she got her start on Nashville star, Leann Rimes got her break on star search. Taylors dad had to buy her a record contract, and milked myspace to get her music heard. Carrie at least had to prove her mettle by winning a national televised singing competition, singing multiple styles of music really well, and winning the general public over with her overall persona. Plus, I give kudos to Carrie for actually getting an education and going to college first, and being an honors student there. She is smarter than people give her credit for. PLus, she had a deal at 15 with Capitol records in early stages that fell through. she was in chorus, performed at school events, games, etc. Plus, since winning idol she had to withstand scorn from people saying she hasent paid dues and winning them over through sheer talent.
Plus, I hate that term “paying dues”. People in the industry always throw it around and its such a relative blanket term. What does it mean to “pay dues”? How many years does one have to sweat to appease them aspect of success. Its so ridiculous and an other story for each individual artist. One does what one has to in order to be successful. Period. Its an individual thing, not a standard to be judged on so harshly.

Anna, get a grip, she didn’t sell out Madison or Anehemi. She was co-headlinging with Keith Urban and he was the bigger draw. We are talking solo tours.
And as far as Shania, Shania is will always be big and famous worldwide until she has totally retired. Being on hiatus doesn’t for 4 years doesn’t mean she is gone lmao!!!
Shania has more star power in her pinky and gets all the attention the day she decides to return with new music.
Sorry to break it to you but Shania has always been in a league of her own and nobody has even come or will come close to her global appeal and impact.

Reba McEntire, after winning her first CMA Entertainer of the Year award back in the 1980s, said this: “As a woman, I know I have to work twice as hard to get what I want. But I’m willing to do that.”

Things may have changed in 20 years, but not that much. Fewer women get signed to major labels, they get less airplay, and no matter how many hits they have or records they sell, it’s harder for them to climb to headliner status–and that’s not just in country music. You can argue a lot of theories as to why this is the case, but the fact that it’s true can’t be argued.

It seems to me Carrie Underwood is wondering why Shania, Faith, Martina, etc, have rarely, if ever, been nominated for Entertainer of the Year. She has a point, and it’s been made by others before her. As country’s biggest female star of the moment, she’s brave to raise the question. Women aren’t supposed to make waves, right?

Along those lines, whoever above made this comment–”Does it seems possible that all women in country music have simply found a more lucrative form of stripping and are game?”–unintentionally shows one reason why women have it so hard. Everything in our media and culture tells them to sexualize themselves if they want to become famous entertainers, then they get called degrading names for doing just that.

Hey North Texas, Anna isnt kicking anyones butt, however she is whipping mine…

“In particular, she says OTHER female artists are long overdue in getting nominated for the entertainer of the year award from various organizations.”

It’s quite obvious that Carrie is not talking about herself but the haters will never let the facts get in the way of their diatribes!

Shania was famous when people gave a crap about music and buying cds. Now lets see how popular she gets. the quality of her music was quite poor, if “Man I feel like a woman”, or a video with her in a leopard print suit on snow was the best she could come up with. I liked her songs as much as the next person, but she was just marketed very well, and overrated. I am not particularly a Carrie fan, I like Miranda and Martina as well. I just think the comments against Carrie on this site are often unfair and factually inaccurate.
As far as singing ability, Carrie is the far better singer. I heard Shania live seven years ago, and it wasn’t very good. Her voice was tepid, hallow , and weak.
She flaunts her sex appeal, which always was her biggest asset, not her singing ability. She married a big time record producer who helped her be international.
I also know Carrie and Martina Mcbride without the platform have been making waves in the UK and Asia.

Also Anna, lay off a worldwide megastar like Shania, she is going through a tough time now with her family.
Take your lies about Shania and go somewhere else.
Shania has always had basher like you her whole career but showed class and dignity and never said anthing bad about anyone.
Shania is the face of country music worldwide and even while on hiatus.
And now she is going through a tough family situation.
So lay off Shania and respect this music icon.

Jake,
Thanks, you sound incredibly adult with your use of ” lol” multiple times. I am not a child, and If I was, your personal attack of me for being a child sounds really grown up.
This is a new era, you are right, and she never had critical acclaim. Carrie’s All American Girl went to number one in Asia, google it. It doesn’t matter. Now that Shania broke up with her hubby producer who co-wrote and produced everything she did, I doubt she will be as successful. Her songs flat out suck, period, and she can’t stand on them alone. She never won an CMA or ACMA award for female vocalist. Even in her hayday. Shows you she never could really sing.Plus, now she is getting old, can’t show her belly and tits too much anymore. Her performances relied on props and such. She had Come on Over, which was like lightening striking, she never followed it up with anything nearly that successful of an album. UP! sucked and performed accordingly.

Twain is the Poster child for good marking and lack of singing ability. Her sex appeal is what she marketed. I don’t know, maybe its because I am not a country hick or a guy I never fell for it. Shania was never considered a credible country artist, she was more a brand. In terms of talent, which I hope is the standard of being a successful singer, Carrie has more.
Stop bashing me for being a fan of Carrie or whatnot since you are clearly a Shania fan. You slandering me for that washes out with your fan based defense of Shania.

I could frankly care less over your personal opinions of me. It does not deny Carrie is a better singer. As well as Martina, Miranda,and Alison Krauss.

Let’s add some perspective here. Top 40 mainstream country radio over the last 10 to 15 years has specifically targeted a female 25-45 listener demographic to earn maximum advertising rates. Surveys show these female listeners want about 20% of the songs they hear to be by female artists because they’d rather hear handsome male hunks serenading them. For years now female artists typically count for 20% or less of the Top 20 songs on the singles charts at any given time. Thus the record companies know its easier to break new male artists on radio than females as the listener demand is much greater.

So its the predominantly female mainstream country radio listening audience which is primarily responsible for how difficult it is these days for new female artists to break through the radio barrier! Now among the radio stations themselves I wouldn’t doubt there is some good ole boy sexist attitudes still lurking in the wings as a contributing factor, but it pales in comparison to listener preference pressures.

I almost hate to mention her name again, but Shania Twain proved that with enough talent and determination the gals can still compete head to head with the men!

Women getting less air play than men? Why does this have to be a gender thing, let’s make it individual. Who gets more airplay, Josh Turner or Carrie Underwood. Heck, Alan Jackson or Carrie Underwood?

Shania and Carrie Underwood bring completely different packages to the table. It’s similar to arguing between Martina and Shania 10 years ago. Carrie can out sing Shania, but Shania can entertain circles around Carrie at this point. Shania was an EVENT… the female Billy Ray Cyrus. Neither were top tier singers, but they both had a level of fame that transcended their music.

I think a better argument right now would be Taylor Swift or Miranda Lambert vs. Carrie Underwood. I don’t think Taylor and Miranda have the pipes Carrie does, but I think Miranda has her in charisma and Taylor has her in the famous “X” factor.

Oh, and I think Jake was right about one thing. If Shania came back, she would outsell Carrie in a heartbeat… She’d probably outsell everyone in country music- at least till everyone remembered she’s not that great.

I can’t wait for Shania to comeback.
She brings star power and excitement to music.
She will be back just as soon as she splits her billion plus dollar fortune with Mutt Lange and moves back closer to home.
There is so many in the music business that have been aniticipating a new Shania album.
I always thought Shania was the nicest and classiest person in music the way she just went about her life in private.

Shania will sell like crazy if she comes back, unless Garth comes back.

Exactly.

Ok there Mr. I put Google Ads on my country music blog.

Lucas, considering Brody and I are self employed, we lose money for every minute we spend on this site. I could go on more about that, but as it is, every penny made off of advertising has gone into improving the site, from keeping it running to funding the contests. Our pockets haven’t seen a penny of what the site has made despite the countless hours we’ve spent on it. It’s been a labor of love for everyone involved. Heck, our readers derive more benefit than we do, but I really don’t think we should have to explain our finances. Learn a little about opportunity cost and realize that more money would just make the site better.

Matt B, thanks for sticking up for us.

Jeez, Lucas…and your myspace says you’re a nice guy or something.

For some of us, writing at The 9513 is a job. Well, at least part of it. Brady and Brody may be downplaying certain things, but make no mistake–we’re doing alright, here. Personally, I’m very lucky that we do well enough to allow me to spend a good portion of my time working on exclusive stories and reviews for this site. When they talk about not keeping profit for themselves, part of that is because they’ve been so willing to make sure that the rest of us can stick around.

I don’t want anyone out there to get the wrong impression. This isn’t a hobby, at least not for me. This is what I do. This is what puts food on the table.

And that’s important, because don’t think for a second I don’t carefully weigh every single word that I write here, or in any of the other publications that I write for.

If you didn’t notice I was responding to the comment I swear you people spend more time worrying about dollar signs than you do the actual music., which I consider to be extremely hypocritical for that reason.

I’d bet Lost Highway (by percentage) is one of the most profitable labels. Take singers that have been out of the spotlight for a while or are semi-popular, record a CD for the remaining fans and don’t spend too much on promotion.

Personally, I won’t write a word about music without getting paid for it. Except here in the 9513 comments, of course.

Lucas: The Indie Music Scene is making money percisely because it knows how to target its demographic with a low overhead. While it may look odd standing in the middle of a multi-million dollar Carrie Underwood full tilt boggie extravaganza, its a solid business model.

Again Lucas, sorry to pile on, but there isnt any correlation, even though you tried to explain it again. A site that has ads doesnt have to have a propensity towards financial discussion as it pertains to music. Would a food blog that makes money HAVE to spend time talking about how much revenue that the Chili’s in the area makes? It sounds like you made an off-handed comment without giving it much, or any thought. Then you had to actually back it up, even though it is a lame point. Sorry, it didnt really work out for ‘ya.

Whatever dude. there are so many holes in your theory, it’s silly. Keep playing it simplistic and you’ll keep being way off-base.

Lucas: Actually, this site makes money from writing.

Carrie didn’t have that impressive of a sales year.

It’s beginning to be all about popularity now instead of the best music or talent….IMO! I love Shania and her music..very classy lady to me! So is Carrie! Do not really get Taylor’s popularity that much…she is still immature but hopefully will only get better with age. As far as the comments about Carrie bringing in the crowd instead of Keith Urban….I don’t think so! He has no problem bringing in crowds and filling arenas when she’s not with him. Most of the reviews I read said Keith stole the show and there many of those. One even said Carrie should sit on the sidelines and watch everyone of Keith’s shows to learn how to do it!! Another said, Carrie was good, Keith phenomenal!!

Stormy said: “But look at Hank Williams. His only Gold record came 20 years after he died. Are we cultivating artists who have that kind of legacy?”

No, because no major label has the patience nowadays to allow new artists develop. They expect the first record to go gold within a few months of its release, and are probably disappointed if it doesn’t go platinum. It’s all about instant gratification and a quick buck these days.

And as for Taylor, does anybody really think that she will be around four or five years from now once her target audience outgrows her and realizes that she was never really good to begin with?

Not that Hank recorded any while he was dead, either…

Brady: My point is that if we want country music to be a healthy and vibrant genre again, we need to stop looking at artists who can give us ONE multi-million selling album and go back to developing artists who have multi-decade careers.

Brady: That is an easy one. Country music used to based their sales model around having several artists who sold fewer copies, but more album over a longer period of time. Pop was always more about short term artists. But then you started replacing the upper echelons of country labels with pop business people and you had country music working under a pop business model. And it doesn’t work.

Brady: Allison Krauss is not a country artist, she is an Americana artist.
Country as a whole genre made more money (and used to outsell pop) when they had a solid and large roster of artists they could consistantly sell to a fan base that bought a lot of country. They don’t know that they have a handful of artists they can sell to a fan base that doesn’t seem to like country much.

Brady said: “Razor X, I don’t know that anyone outside of Carrie’s label and her fans are promoting her as “The Face of Country Music,” but I guess they must be doing a good job. How many current albums are set to top 3x platinum and probably push 4x when all is said and done? I’m not up on the figures, but I’d venture a guess that very few are selling as well.”

I don’t know that hers is selling that well, either. It’s gone 2x platinum according Billboard, unless their information is out of date. Do you know of another source that shows it’s sold more? It’s back in the Top 5 for the first time in a while, due to her appearance on the ACMs last week. Do you really think the third single is going to cause such a jump in sales that it will sell another 2 million? Her sales right now seem to be about even with the current Rascal Flatts CD, and well behind Taylor’s. Respectable sales to be sure, but she’s not way out ahead of the rest of the pack.

Carrie went 2x way back in December of ‘07, so I’m guessing she’s getting pretty close to 3x, which would mean not a full 2 million need to be sold to reach 4x. It’d probably be difficult, but I’m assuming “Just A Dream” will be the fourth single, and if any song on her album has the chance to push sales, I think it’s that one. Taylor’s CD was released a year before Carrie’s and used a re-release gimmick to push sales, so it has a decided advantage at this point.

Thanks, Lynn. On their RIAA certifications page, Billboard has the Rascal Flatts CD at 2X platinum as of 5/14/08 — so it just got the certification very recently.

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/riaa/index.jsp

I would expect “Carnival” and “Taylor Swift” to both finish around 4 million when all is said and done. The more interesting (and accurate) comparison will be after the release of Taylor’s sophomore set and how it rivals “Carnival”.