The Chicks Say They Were ‘Treated Very Weird’ Backstage at the 2016 CMA Awards
In 2016, Beyonce was invited to perform her country-tinged song "Daddy Lessons" at the CMA Awards in Nashville. She, in turn, called on the Chicks, who had been covering the song at recent tour stops.
In the days after the ceremony, the Chicks revealed that it was the pop and R&B superstar who had asked them to be her onstage guests, not the other way around.
"I’m pretty sure I’ve uttered the sentence, ‘I will never perform on the CMAs again as long as I live,'" Natalie Maines shared at the time, as the country music industry had blackballed the trio after Maines made a derogatory comment about then-President George W. Bush onstage in London, England, in 2003.
The CMA Awards moment was electric, but in an interview with the New York Times, the Chicks say they didn't feel completely comfortable at the show.
"They treated us very weird backstage,” Maines admits, though Beyonce and her camp were incredibly welcoming. The Times shares that Chicks member Emily Strayer's daughter spent time playing with Beyonce's daughter Blue Ivy backstage that night.
Beyonce's appearance at the 2016 CMA Awards was kept a secret until the day of the show, when the Country Music Association confirmed rumors that had been floating around social media. Her performance slot, however, was met with fury from viewers.
"For them to disrespect her that way,” Maines says of the backlash, “was disgusting.”
After 14 years without new music, the Chicks will release a brand-new album, Gaslighter, on Friday (July 10).
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