Now, in 2022, her return to the Oscars stage is digging up some old, painful feelings. “Everybody said, ‘Aren’t you excited? Aren’t you excited?’ And I don’t feel excited,” McEntire admits to press, emotion in her voice.
“So I finally figured it out yesterday,” she continues. “I thought if I felt too excited, something could happen. So I said, ‘God, I’m just gonna give it up to you.’ I don’t know why I didn’t [do that] when I first felt this heaviness in my heart. I just said, ‘I’m giving it all up to you. Let me have a good time. Let me sing it the way I’m supposed to sing it. Your will, not my will. Your way, not my way.'”
Once she got that perspective, McEntire realized that the painful feelings that had been surrounding her upcoming performance started to dissipate.
“It lifted, like, 100 pounds. We went to rehearsal and I had a great time,” she concludes.
At the upcoming show, McEntire is performing another Best Original Song nominee: “Somehow You Do,” from the film Four Good Days. The song was written by Diane Warren.
McEntire is one of four artists performing Best Original Song-nominated songs: Beyonce will sing “Be Alive” from King Richard, Billie Eilish and Finneas will perform “No Time to Die” from the movie of the same name, and Sebastian Yatra is set to sing “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto.