Songoftheday 10/27/21 - You think I'm always making something out of nothing, saying everything is ok...

 

 

"Whatever You Say" - Martina McBride

from the album Evolution (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 5

 

Today's song comes from country music singer Martina McBride, whose fourth album Evolution had spun off four hit country singles (including "Valentine", which made my "robbed hit" series), finally landed her first top-40 crossover hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the beginning of 1999 with "Wrong Again". The fifth and final release from the album was another emotional ballad that took advantage of McBride's powerful voice, "Whatever You Say". Written by Ed Hill and Tony Martin, and produced by Martina with Paul Worley, the song casts her as a woman in a neglectful relationship, where her feelings aren't heard and love isn't expressed. In the typical country music pun lexicon, "Whatever You Say" is transformed from a phrase a submissive wife/girlfriend would say to one where Martina is making an ultimatum on leaving, depending on the answer to that phrase. The verses are delivered in a shaky but steadfast tone, but when that chorus hits, it drives the needing to be heard right home where it needs to be. It simply is one of the most gripping displays of adult relationships in the genre that is so so missing in today's Nashville branding exercises. It's simply Celine Dion-esque in its execution, and the production and backup vocals match every bit of energy until the take-a-breath moment at the end, where the music swells and takes over. The music video broadens the scope of the lyrics, showing a runaway girl with uncaring parents, a man with an interested partner, and finally to Martina, who is shown making the decision to leave the situation in an elevator. Simply one of the best country songs by the best country singer ever...

 

 "Whatever You Say" became Martina's second top-40 crossover hit in June of 1999. The song also spent a week at #2 on Billboard's Country Singles chart. Internationally, the single made it to #6 on the Canadian Country list. Martina will return to the series.

(10/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

 

First up, McBride singing "Whatever You Say" on the TNN Cable TV network to promote the album...

 

 Here's Martina performing the song at the ACM Awards in 1999 where she gets a complete and deserved standing ovation...

And lastly, in concert at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville...

Up tomorrow: Seattle grunge-rock heroes resurrect a one-hit-wonder from the early 60's for Kosovo.