Reba McEntire told Jennifer Hudson that she is fired up to host the ACM Awards for the 17th time on May 16th, especially after watching Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks do the honors last year. “They were having so much fun I said, ‘Wait a minute, I want to do that!’” she said on the singer’s daytime talk show on Thursday (May 2).
The 59th annual ACMs will take place in Frisco, Texas at the Ford Center again and will air on Amazon Prime, marking McEntire’s return to the hosting gig for the first time since 2019. When Hudson suggested they should just rename it the “Reba McEntire Country Music Awards” as she unspooled clips of Reba’s many previous hosting stints, the singer smiled as she looked at some of her signature glittering outfits over the years.
When Hudson asked what was on tap this year, McEntire said her team of fashion experts have picked out some pieces that are unlike anything she’s ever worn before. “I wear a lot of what we call ‘Miss America dresses,’” McEntire said, describing one such 35-pound piece her stylist presented for perusal that nearly bent her arm. “I said, ‘I’m trying to lose weight not gain weight,’” McEntire joked about the hefty dress she suggested her stylist try on instead.
“Comfort is the thing, right girls?” McEntire asked the audience after describing how some dresses are good for a walk-out-and-introduce, while others need to have a different feel and look if she’s doing her show-opening monologue.
McEntire teased the new album coming out “soon,” as well as a single she’s debuting at the ACMs and a new sitcom called Happy’s Place for NBC, which is awaiting a pick-up from the network. After Hudson gushed about the theme song for Reba’s beloved self-titled early 2000s sitcom — which the host said was one of her mom’s favorite shows — the pair bonded over the series’ inspiring theme song, “I’m a Survivor,” which got Jennifer so excited she asked if they could do a duet on the track.
“I get to sing with Reba y’all!,” Hudson squealed. The women then harmonized on the verse about a single mom working two jobs, joining their voices as they crooned, “I’m a survivor.”
McEntire also talked about her longevity, describing entering the music business nearly half a century ago “totally ignorant” about how it worked, slowly learning to trust her instincts as she built up success-after-success. “And when I’d get an idea they said, ‘oh, that’s a good one!,’ or I’d chose a song and they’d say, ‘oh, that’s a good one,’ then it gives you confidence and you can move forward and have more ideas,” she said.
The conversation also touched on McEntire’s second season as a coach on The Voice, with the country veteran saying that she’s no longer the “new kid on the block” after Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan and John Legend made her feel welcome during her first go-round last year. “But it took a while. It’s like going to a new school in sixth grade when everybody’s been together since pre-school,” Reba said of stepping in for Blake Shelton.
But this season, with fellow country act Dan + Shay, Legend and Chance the Rapper, McEntire said “we’ve had a blast,” though she demurred when asked whose rival team she thinks is her biggest competition while praising her team for their “heart and soul.” When Hudson wondered if McEntire is more enticed by the story, the style or the talent of her prospects, Reba said, “when you’ve got all three of those that’s when it’s really magic and that’s what my three artists [Josh Sanders, L. Rodgers and Asher HaVon] have.”
Watch McEntire on The Jennifer Hudson show below.
