For anyone watching last week’s Country Music Awards, the split screen shot of the five singers vying for the coveted Female Vocalist of the Year Award were shocked to see the reaction of Faith Hill when the winner was announced.
The nominees were Faith Hills, Sara Evans (of recent tabloid fame), Martina McBride, Gretchen Wilson and Carrie Underwood. Underwood was the underdog, the 2005 American Idol winner who has exploded on the country season with triple platinum success since her Idol days but not well respected by fellow performers in the industry. When Underwood’s name was announced, the cameras clearly showed Faith Hill throwing her hands up in the air and mouthing “What?
Was it an embarrassingly honest reaction or just a joke?
Faith Hill has been a favorite of the country music industry as well as music lovers since her multi-platinum debut, 1993’s Take Me As I Am. Each album following has been a success, with multi-platinum sellers from 1995’s It Matters To Me, to 2002’s Cry. Her successes include nearly 30 million albums sold, four Grammy wins, three awards from the Country Music Association, twelve from the Academy of Country Music, as well as four People’s Choice Award wins as Favorite Female Music Performer in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Hill released a statement November 7th through her publicist in response to her reaction at the awards show. “The idea that I would act disrespectful towards a fellow musician is unimaginable to me. For this to become a focus of attention given the talent gathered is utterly ridiculous. Carrie is a talented and deserving female vocalist of the year.” Her manager, as well, spoke up, saying, “I’ve worked with Faith for many years now and the idea that she would ever insult or undermine another artist, let alone another human being’s success is absolutely preposterous. Those who know her know that she’s incapable of such actions. She was being playful while the nominations were being read and playful after.”
So, the question is, why would such a well-respected and seasoned veteran of country music do something like this, even as a joke?
In show business, any attention is good attention. If you don’t win at the Country Music Awards, why not give the people something to talk about? News reporters the next day were having a field day showing the clip of Hill and what appeared to be her nasty reaction to a rival’s win. Hill was quick to release a statement denying any animosity and her manager backed her up.
For a gesture that was simply supposed to be a joke, Hill seems to be the only one laughing – all the way to the bank. Hill, and husband, Tim McGraw, are riding the wave of country music popularity doubled by each of their talents. In April 2006, Hill and McGraw embarked on their Soul2Soul II Tour, the highest grossing country music tour ever with a gross of $89 million. Surely with this much success, fame and money, Hill can find a better way to play a joke than to make herself look bad.
Perhaps it is time for Faith Hill to be brought back down to earth.
