Reba McEntire remembers the time she went viral on TikTok with ‘I'm a Survivor.' She thinks Kevin Costner could help her do it again.
In 2021, the platform was suddenly flooded with videos of millennials and Gen Z-ers accomplishing easy but undesirable tasks — like finally doing laundry from a week ago, taking out the trash when your partner is away or picking up your dinner rather than getting it delivered — soundtracked to McEntire's 2001 hit song, 'I'm a Survivor.'
Lyrics like, 'But she's just too hard-headed/A single mom who works two jobs/Who loves her kids and never stops/With gentle hands and the heart of a fighter/I'm a survivor,' have struck a satirical chord with TikTokers. The track, which was famously used as the theme song for McEntire's eponymous sitcom, Reba, even reached No. 2 on Billboard's Viral Songs Chart.
The song's virality came as a pleasant surprise for McEntire, who even got in on the trend herself. In the 23-second video clip that's been viewed on TikTok more than 25 million times, McEntire tries to feed the donkeys on her farm, only they couldn't care less.
'When it's time to feed your donkeys and they're not the least bit interested,' she wrote alongside the video.
McEntire believes the song took off on the video-sharing platform because of its relatability. We're all survivors in some respect, she says.
'Everybody's dealing with their own things in their own life. And 'I'm a Survivor' is a song about survivors,' McEntire told Yahoo Entertainment. 'We all are. We deal with our own problems in our own ways, and we get through. People can relate to that.'
After first hearing 'I'm a Survivor,' which was written by Shelby Kennedy and Phillip White, McEntire knew it was something special.
'I thought to myself, 'Oh, my cousin can relate to it.' Then I thought, 'Well, shoot, I can relate to it,'' she said. 'When I'm in concert, I'll look around at people and they are singing with me, and I know that they've had something in their life that they have overcome.'
When asked which of her songs she'd love to go viral next and how, McEntire's response is immediate: 1994's 'Why Haven't I Heard From You?' with a little help from Yellowstone star Kevin Costner. McEntire has often sung Costner's praises and even expressed interest in appearing in Yellowstone with the actor in 2022.
'That would be good,' she told Yahoo. 'Picking up the phone and saying, 'Kevin Costner, why haven't I heard from you?' Then, you could have Kevin on this side of the screen saying, 'Reba McEntire, why haven't I heard from you?' That could go viral.'
While fans may need to wait to witness McEntire's return to online virality, they can tune into the 60th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday, which McEntire will be hosting. This year marks the 18th time the Reba star has emceed the annual ceremony, which celebrates the highest achievement in country music.
Acknowledging how the awards show has 'totally changed' since the first time she hosted in 1986, McEntire's grateful for the opportunity to be back once again. She's particularly grateful to one entertainment industry mentor in particular. .
'Dick Clark was really, really good to me,' said McEntire.
The Academy of Country Music Awards, as with many awards shows, is a live production. The nature of the format doesn't lend itself to editing or rewrites — and requires that the ceremony takes place within its allotted time.
'What's very important is when they say, 'We're running over,' 'We're running short,' 'We're running behind.' It's my responsibility to keep things popping and clicking. And if they take some of my dialogue out, don't get your panties in a wad about it. You've got a job to do. Get back out there and make the show flow,' said McEntire.
'It's the excitement of live television' that's exhilarating for McEntire. In addition to her veteran hosting status, McEntire was a small-screen darling and primetime television mainstay thanks to the WB's Reba, which was shot in a classic sitcom style with a live studio audience. She revisited that live TV format 16 years later, when she took over for Blake Shelton as a coach on NBC's The Voice from 2023 to 2024.
McEntire will again find herself in front of a live audience with her latest sitcom, NBC's Happy's Place, which returns for its second season in October. It's a dream come true for the country superstar, who, as a self-described 'true fan of TV,' considers working in the industry to be 'such a gift.'
In Happy's Place, McEntire stars as Bobbie, a woman who inherits her late father's tavern and is thrown into a family business with a half-sister she never knew existed.
Like Reba, the series hinges on family, and the idea that a home is whatever you make it. The sentiment feels apt for McEntire, who recently partnered with Realtor.com on their "Nearly Home" campaign to encourage homebuyers to approach the task with optimism.
'It makes me feel good,' McEntire said of her involvement in the campaign. 'I want to be a part of the team who is bringing joy into people's lives by finding them the right home for them and their family.'
For McEntire, her chosen family, home and dream project have miraculously converged.
'I've got it right now with Happy's Place,' she said. 'I couldn't have asked for a better cast, a better crew, writing team, showrunners, producers, everybody in that whole organization. … Everybody was so joyful to work with. They came to work with a smile.'
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And although she doesn't need or want your approval, she does hope you may recognise a bit of yourself in her music and that it helps get you closer to finding your own way. There's no clocking in and out of the job. The other day, I broke down out of nowhere. I was working with this songwriter I've always wanted to work with and my entire arm started going numb, the side of my head started going numb. I just lost a friend to a brain aneurysm. So I'm thinking I'm having one, straight-up, and I'm freaking out internally. She asked me, 'Are you okay?' I burst into tears. I had just met her an hour before. I ended up taking the weekend to do nothing. I was like, I want to sit in my room, watch stupid movies, play Fortnite, go in my Jacuzzi, drink a beer. Everyone can fuck off, leave me alone. I'm not doing anyone a favour by burning myself out. Why does it have to get to the point of me having a panic attack? It shouldn't, but I'm trying to snap out of it. So stressed, but I'm trying to snap out of it. The pressure of what I hope this next chapter will be and the success that I hope it reaches. I want to make songs I feel really proud of. I want to play Madison Square Garden. I want to play the Forum. In the past, I've done things where I'm like, 'I really don't want to do this, it's going to make me miserable…but let's do it.' Now I don't want to make myself miserable along the way. I want to achieve my dreams and look around me and be like, Fuck yeah and I feel good; if this all went away tomorrow, I'd still be happy. That's what I want. I have the highest goals. This is hopefully what solidifies everything for me, whatever that means. That's why it's been hard to make — there's a lot of pressure I'm putting on myself. So it's taking me a second, but it feels exciting. I don't want to succeed if it means not being who I am. I don't need people to love me. And I don't want people to listen to my music if it's not real. And then I'm simultaneously trying not to have a panic attack thinking about if everything goes super well, what my life will look like. Because that scares me, which is something I'm trying to be honest with myself about. When you work your whole life toward something and then it's right there, it's like, 'Do I want it though?' I do want it. But it's easy to get lost in 'I want to be the biggest and, oh my god, look at this artist and this artist and I want to do all the things they're doing.' I get nervous because I look at some of my peers and friends who have had these huge moments and I'm like, 'I'm afraid of this.' Pretending that part of it doesn't exist is weird. When I was a young girl and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I had the curtain pulled back really quickly. I saw a lot of big celebrities doing crazy things, having horrible times. And I was like, 'Whoa, you guys aren't all like fairies. What?'¹ 1. While Madison doesn't name names, in the early 2010s era she's referencing, paparazzi-outside-nightclubs photos were still how many people got their celebrity news. Literally the same day my manager dropped me, my lawyer dropped me, and my label dropped me. Everything in my life went away within 12 hours. I was 16 and my label was like, 'Good luck.' And I'm like, 'You guys just stole years of my childhood that I'll never get back. And now it's just 'good luck' and 'have fun'? I can't go to college because I've been homeschooled. I have a high school degree and nothing else because of my career. My whole family uprooted and moved to Los Angeles with no connections. I have no friends. Are you guys kidding me?' I hadn't been successful enough. There was a conversation around me when I was 14, I remember people being like, 'She's too sexy' and 'We can't sell the sex because she's so young, so we'd have to wait.' This was a real conversation, grown men talking about how I was too sexy. I was 14.² 2. If you had to pause to exhale, we get it. The roots of misogyny run deep. Honestly, the hardest part was having these people that I thought really loved me never speak to me again. I went from being kissed on the forehead like, 'You're family to us — come to our house for Thanksgiving,' and 'We all love you, you're going to be the female Justin Bieber, give it a year' to being dropped on my head. I felt like I was a dollar sign to them and when I didn't bring in enough money, they didn't care about me anymore. Maybe they shouldn't have signed a 12-year-old without thinking of the consequences of what that was going to do. It feels even crazier now because when I have 12-year-old girls come to my meet-and-greets, I'm like, 'You're a baby. There's no way that I was a signed artist at your age.' It's terrifying. No, it's sickening. The lack of caring about my childhood was so disturbing. I was like, 'Wow, y'all really don't give a fuck.' It's real, girl — I experienced it. Should I keep it inside now the rest of my life? Fuck that. Am I scared of these people? No. The reason it was a thing was because Scooter had signed me and obviously Scooter had signed Justin. Justin had posted a cover and I had posted a cover, so it felt synchronised. But Justin was also only a teenager when I got signed — he hadn't even experienced his adult life yet. He's been through so much, too. I love him and Hailey [Bieber] very much. I was with them recently and we were like, 'How special that we've known each other for so long.' I've known Hailey since I was 10, and I've known Justin since I was 12. We're still in each other's lives and now they're married with a baby. I feel more ready than I ever have. And I'm like, 'Thank god my breakout didn't happen three years ago. My god, I would've died.' Now I'm being real with myself. It's scary, bro. I am already freaked out by how many people know who I am. Imagine it getting worse. The boy who the whole nude situation happened with,3 he reached out to me and was like, 'I had no idea that I hurt you like this. I'm so sorry.' I don't know how it feels to be a 14-year-old boy receiving photos of a girl. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I don't think he was being malicious showing them to his friends. He was a kid. I've had to sit people down and be like, 'Hey, you owe me an apology for what you did to me when I was a kid.' And a lot of the other people from that time in my life — I just have completely severed my relationships with. I don't care to make up with you or be cool with you. 3. When she was a teenager, Madison sent disappearing Snapchats to a boy she was dating. The photos and videos eventually made their way to the internet, setting off waves of cyberbullying and sending a teenage Madison into a depression spiral. No. Sometimes you've got to just let it go. I tried to go the other way and kill myself, and don't get me wrong, I still have those moments. But I was like, 'I need to first prove all these people wrong. And second, maybe I can help someone out there who sees themselves in me in any way.' I like to think that everything I went through and continue to go through is because I'm strong enough to survive and tell the story. Just because I'm okay with it now doesn't mean I deserved to go through it. As much as people mistreated me, who I really have a bone to pick with is the internet. I recently saw this video someone posted on TikTok from when I was 13. It was my first time on a TV show, and I sang a song that I completely botched the ending of. I went back to the original comments. People were like, 'I didn't know it was possible to get ear cancer,' 'I didn't know that you could be talentless and get signed,' 'Oh my god, this girl sucks.' I don't give a fuck that I'm a public figure or that I put myself out there. You don't treat children like that. I've been bullied a lot. They sometimes do interviews with me just to make fun of me. People around me used to tell me 'Shhh, don't speak back, don't stand up for yourself.' But I'm at this place now where I will happily be like, 'What the fuck are you saying?' if that's how I feel. And who I am is someone who does stand up for themselves — someone who can be a bitch, if that's what you deem it as. If I could have a perfect world, I would not be on social media at all. I don't think there's any way to accurately depict yourself online. I'm so conditioned to everything I say and do on the internet being twisted. Though I do, unfortunately, scroll TikTok for hours on end. I want to delete it but I'd lose all my drafts. I don't have Twitter on my phone anymore. I'm not going to die on this hill begging all of you to see me when you are clearly committed to misunderstanding me. I do miss my fans who are on there though —I used to talk to them on Twitter all the time. I really had to ask myself: If I'm going to live, what do I want my life to look like and who am I going to be? It's taken me so long and I'm obviously still doing so much work on myself. But yeah, it's been a fucking journey. There've been so many situations in my life where I've been burned….I've been betrayed in every single way. It's really painful. I guess I just got to a point where I was like, 'Feel your feelings about it.' That's me coping with things. I don't fuck with wallowing in misery because I've done that and it doesn't end well. I'd rather be real with myself, like, Okay, you went through this, you can't change it. What are we going to do now? But I also try to be a joyous person that's loving life and has more empathy than judgment. Even for the people who almost bullied me into killing myself. We're alive for a short period of time. I called my mum three nights ago because she is the kindest, most loving person, and she always taught me and my brother about empathy. My dad's amazing, too, but that specific generosity, going out of my way for people, that's really Tracie Beer. I'd done something generous for someone and I was having a reflective moment like, 'I'm so thankful that you're my mum and that you gave me this heart.' It's important to let people know how they positively affect you. I've never wanted to turn hard and cold against the world because I think there are beautiful, amazing people out there. Just because I've experienced a bunch of shitty ones doesn't mean everyone is bad. You've got to try to keep your heart open. Yes. But also, don't get it twisted. Don't mistake my kindness for weakness. Sometimes when people hear me talk, they're like, 'She likes to pretend like she's such an angel.' I'm like, 'Girl, no one's pretending like they're an angel.' I have plenty of demons in my closet. If you fuck with me, I'm going to be the one that's going off on you. I take the way I'm treated very seriously. Don't mess with me. I met a girl, literally out and about, and I was on her phone lock screen, and one of my songs, 'Homesick,' was her ringtone. And I was like, 'How did we just run into each other on the street? I'm going to cry my eyes out.' Those are the moments, honestly, more so than getting nominated for a Grammy…I wouldn't have gotten that without everything that came before it, including the fans who support me. There have been so many moments that are very 'pinch me' vibes. I remember Amsterdam, the first show with over 5,000 people when I headlined my own tour. I was trembling at the sound check. I walked out there thinking, Where did you all come from and why are you here to see me? Transparently, though, after the Life Support tour⁴, I thought I was done. I love my fans, but the experience as a whole was just too much. I was going through a lot and trying to perform and meet 150 or 200 people a night. I was questioning my career. 4. The tour for her first studio album kicked off in October 2021 and had 26 dates in North America and 23 in Europe, often back-to-back. I have thoughts to this day where I'm like, Do I only want to do this because when I was 4 years old, my dad started recording me and I thought, 'Oh, I should be a singer?' But I've been able to arrive at the answer being, 'Yes, this is what I want." And my next tour, the Spinnin' Tour,⁵ proved it. It was an amazing experience because I set boundaries, which I will preach about forever. I hope anyone reading this can hear me through the fucking pages. You've got to stand up for yourself or people will just take advantage and you'll end up as a shadow of yourself. 5. Starting in February 2024, the tour for her Silence Between Songs album had 52 dates but with more intentional scheduling. Fuck that. I'm not just here to make all of you people money. If you want a robot, make one. I cut my meet-and-greets down to 30 people and I have a no-phones rule because of my trust issues. I want to be open with my fans in these conversations, I tell them secrets. Someone posted a video they took secretly and all of the comments were like, 'Delete this. She says she doesn't want this. Do not talk about things that happened in the Q&A.' And I'm like, thank you. I finally have a team around me that gives a fuck. I want to feel like I'm having fun because, hello? We're not working at NASA. We're not doing life-or-death work. Of course, music is so important, but let's loosen up a little and not be so goddamn serious all the time. And by the way, I can already hear the people on Twitter being like, 'Well, this is why you're not as big as the other girls, girl.' And you know what? Maybe it is. Or maybe it is because I prioritise my life and my mental health more than my career. I'm really proud of where I'm at and I'm not putting all of my self-worth into my career. To be so honest with you, a lot of my self-worth is based on the way I look. I'm trying to change that, but it's so deep-rooted. It's been ingrained in me since I was young because of people focusing on superficial bullshit. Unfortunately, that's manifested itself into a place where if I'm breaking out or I've gained five pounds or I don't feel pretty, I don't feel like I'm worth anything. That's genuinely my most real answer and it came into my head and I was like, Okay, do I say this? But it's important because I think a lot of young girls can relate. If you don't feel hot, you feel like you're nothing. It sucks. I've gotten better by not wearing makeup or by going out in sweatpants, by not feeling 'hot' all the time. It's a double-edged sword, because people are like, 'Oh, boo-hoo, people think you're pretty.' That's not at all what I'm saying. I'm trying to say that I feel like I have a lot more to offer. It feels like the opposite of who I am. I get so frustrated because I'm like, Well, girl, you can talk the talk, but you don't walk the walk because when you're not feeling cute, you feel like you are the worst person alive. I know that that's a trauma response, that it's related to my borderline personality disorder and OCD. I know that it stems from years of people making me feel like that's all I'm good for. But I'm also asking myself, What are the things that make me feel like I have purpose and value? It's having deep conversations, doing kind things for others, and spreading love. As cheesy as that is what makes me feel like I'm worth $1 trillion. My heart. Because I'm picking myself apart. I'm my biggest critic. Everything I say and do, I'm like, You're being annoying. Shut up. Why'd you say that? But my brain is wired to care about it. Like I said, I had grown men in the industry being like, 'She's too pretty' or 'She's too sexy.' And let's not even get into just being a woman in general. What we're told from so young is 'Be pretty, be hot.' Society just continues to perpetuate this. It's terrible. I don't want my self-worth to be caught up in that because when I feel the best about myself is when I'm performing. Or when I meet somebody and we have a beautiful moment of connection. For sure. I love people. I meet someone, I love them. I'm like, 'Okay, I'm never letting you go. You'll be with me forever until you hurt me.' That's the deal. I think I also, because I have such a weird life and never feel safe and comfortable with someone, when I cross that line of 'you're my boyfriend,'6 it feels really big. 6. Madison is dating Nick Austin, a TikTok star and influencer. I really don't. I joke that I'm a sapiosexual,7 because honestly, make me laugh and we're good. Truthfully. Sometimes also there's just a…thing. 7. Meaning someone who is attracted to another person's intelligence. Yeah. You could literally look so different from anyone I've ever been with. And if there's just that thing, it's there. I love people's souls more than anything. I'm just like, 'Yeah, I don't really know why you give a fuck that I want to date a girl.' I've never understood homophobic people, because I'm just like, 'Why are you affected by someone else's sexual preference?' It doesn't affect me unless I'm trying to sleep with you and you don't want to sleep with me. I like to speak about it because I know how much the gay community has been through. My grandfather married a woman and had three children with her because he was trying to convert himself. It makes me so upset that we live in this world where you can't just be who you are. A bit needy. I love all the attention in the world, which sometimes means I shoot myself in the foot because obviously no one can give me that all the time. But I'm just a lover girl. I'm sure my boyfriend would have a different answer. And I'm a Rising Gemini and Libra Moon. He's Cancer, Cancer, Cancer. It can be good and bad. It's intense and fun, but it's good. We've been together for four years, which is nuts. No, neither of us are equipped for whatever the fuck might come. But it's kind of exciting to be like, 'We're going to figure all this out, hopefully together.' Yes, I know he's going to support me, but do I think that he knows or I know or my parents know or my brother knows how we're going to feel or go through it if and when that does happen? No. But in terms of certain other people, don't think that if and hopefully when this album goes crazy, I'm not going to be like, 'You didn't give me the time of fucking day and now you want to be my best friend. Goodbye. Get out of my face, genuinely.' I love my new followers, I love them so much. But I'm also so close with my fans who have been with me since the beginning. I'm thinking of so many of their names right now, and I'm like, 'When I'm doing an arena tour, I will see you in the front row and you will be the reason I'm emotional because you've seen me and you've been a part of this journey this whole time.' When a lot of people didn't get it, they did. Styled by Harper Slate. Hair by Mel Dominguez at Forward Artists. Makeup by Sandy Ganzer for Saie Beauty. Manicure by Sreynin Peng for Aprés. Production by The Morrison Group. VP of video: Jason Ikeler. Director of video: Kathryn Rice. Senior producer: Rae Medina. Producer: Phoebe Balson. Associate producer: Jordan Abt. Director of photography: Darren Kho. Senior editor: Jeffrey Sharkey. Camera: AJ Lodge. Sound: Griffith James. Editor: Sarah Ng. If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual violence, consider reaching out to the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 or using the online chat feature at In a crisis, you can call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 to speak to a trained counselor. We've rounded up more mental health resources here.
