“I have been like, ‘I’m your huckleberry,’ for so many years.”
Turns out both parties were wrong.
feels like her moment has finally arrived.
Credit: Universal Music
(She also recently announced that she is pregnant with her first child.)
And, crucially, her record label, UMG Nashville, is supporting that.
But it wasn’t always thus.
We all have the ability to stand up for ourselves.
‘Oh, confirm you’re really country because you’re Black.
It has paid off magnificently.
and Black Like Me.
Do you just let her pretend/That she could be the president?’
she asks at one point.
Ironically, part of the song’s inspiration came from a different awards show, the Grammys.
At her labels' after party, Guyton looked around and started sensing a common thread.
I remember walking around this room, and seeing all of these beautiful, successful women, she says.
Hailee Steinfeld was there.
Billie Eilish was there.
And the one common denominator was a whole bunch of white businessmen in suits.
And I looked around and wondered,What have these women gone through to get to this point?
And as I was walking over to them, I saw some big wig over at Spotify.
And I instantly stood up straighter.
And I felt so ashamed of myself, because I shouldn’t have to do that to get opportunities.
I got on a plane at 4:00 AM to fly to Nashville to write with three women.
And we wrote this song that day."
There were a lot of tears, she says.
“It was around the time Botham Jean had been murdered in his own apartment.
and he said, ‘Because you’re running away from everything that makes you different.'”
In that moment, she had an epiphany.
“But it was so true.
I was trying to make everybody feel comfortable with me being black, that I was hiding my blackness.
And I was the one suffering for it.
Nobody else was suffering.
Everybody else was going to bed at night, sleeping just fine.
If that’s what they want, then they’ll listen to me.
If that’s not what they want, they won’t.
And that’s okay.
She gives special credit to Cindy Mabe, president of Universal Music Group Nashville.
I just quit worrying about what other people thought.
I think that everybody is officially on board the Mickey train.
But, of the future, Guyton says shes very, very, very cautiously optimistic.
