Editorial - February 2007

 Girls, Girls, Girls

by Esther Berlanga-Ryan

I have tried to bite my tongue for quite some time, probably because when a woman talks about other women it always comes across as some sort of jealousy issue. And the message tends to get lost somewhere between a mere opinion and a plain matter of fit throwing time.

Far from it, and I hope I will be able to make myself very clear, what concerns me is not a bunch of pretty girls singing what they call “Country” on CMT. What worries me is the absolute lack of room for normal looking girls in the business, and therefore in the songs. As if everybody (women, of course) had to look absolutely stunning to even dare listening to what they keep calling “Country”.

Would you feel protrayed in a Carrie Underwood song that talks about a cheating man if you do not look like an angel with long wavy curly blonde hair? Well, if it wasn’t because they are all starting to look too perfect maybe you could.

A few months ago I accidentally watched Gretchen Wilson’s video about California girls. While Wilson was, I guess, trying to make a valuable point (we are not all California girls), she still appeared to feature only perfect looking women on this video: brunettes-dark haired versus blondes. It felt like Pamela Anderson and Jessica Simpson versus any Playboy model whose hair happens to be anything but golden. I could not help but wonder who was Gretchen actually singing to. Every woman willing to listen? Are you sure? So why wouldn’t she share the screen  with every kind of real women possible, and I emphasize real here.

Just one more reason to dislike the direction the so-called New Country Music sound is taking. While Country Music was supposed to talk about common folks and lives, they are making sure their looks and songs pretty much only focus on the gorgeous looking ones.

Do not misunderstand me, I think it is a marketing necessity for them to look stunning. We all know they would not sell half the albums they sell if it wasn’t because men would love to share their beds with them. Especially when they have neither talent nor originality, or both,  and they sing the National Anthem off key in front of thousands of people on Thanksgiving Day (ouch!). And yes, everybody in this world has a right to make a living.

But when they step on other people’s self-esteem, taking away from them the most ignored truth of this crazy, big, sad world of ours (the one that says that every human being of this world is beautiful, inside and out… You just need to be willing to look closely), and they forget that Country Music is for everybody, and made by common folks like you and me, then you are stepping on the fighting side of me. All the superficial cover is just that, a cover. And it does not relate to most of us.

Oh well, just one more woman wondering what all of this “pretty as a picture” thing is about. Music or sex? Are they the same thing now? No wonder I refuse to listen to most of today’s Country music anymore…Last time I checked I was not interested in women, if you know what I mean. So what’s on their format for me? And quite frankly, watching Faith Hill getting all worked up on live TV because Carrie Underwood took her award home makes me wonder where they think this music is going. To the hairdresser for their next Country Weekly cover, if they had their pick. To hell is where they are sending it, if you ask me. No truth, no soul, no future.

It is bad enough that men treat us like meat everyday. And their videos are not any better. Get real, girls. That’s what this music should be all about. And we should know better.

Esther Berlanga-Ryan®

Looking back to January 2007's editorial: Sharing the Music