The Dixie Chicks Return with Gaslighter (2020)

"pivot" to the new name
"earned" in the sense that they have been far more socially and culturally aware than most of the people in their musical community, aren't having a sudden awakening and have chosen to make the shift not with an extensive, PR written egotistical instapost but with a new song that's pretty damn good

Do you think Lady Antebellum should have kept going with their name?

xp, also in that their name changes seems like it's coming from a genuine space as creators and artists and not as a sop to marketability.

morrisp: i didn't care one way or the other about lady antebellum's name but then, as a southern expat, i always associated "antebellum" with the architectural style over the era (as the band also claimed to have done); there are a lot more obvious and direct verbal markers of jim crow-to-now racism baked into the region's language.

I honestly think the only reason the band made that leap was because of the upcoming horror movie by the same name (which i dearly hope is funneling money into the Octavia Butler's estate), which looks to be a likely hit and which they surely didn't want to be directly associated with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHDroOQPOsc

dang this is gonna end up being my favorite album of the year

"Chicks" has some baggage too, they should just go by "The"

I'd totally buy a record by "The"

I wonder if they paid Bill Payne a visit first

heh xp: icymi, my understanding is that the name hails from the little feat song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z-GwdaKrn8

(i'd put money on payne not minding)

Love this band regardless of what they call themselves; though I'm not sure this was necessary, it's a nice show of solidarity.

Song is solid. Video is powerful. Recalls the Janelle Monae collab "Hell You Talmbout":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fumaCsQ9wKw

If they really wanna do this, ideally they'd match the marketing costs associated with this move (which seem to me to be considerably more than nothing) with a donation to [insert worthy bail fund/org]

... sure? Don't know that they haven't; there's like twenty orgs to support at the end of that video.

no way in hell they'd do that and not trumpet about it

i'm guessing you may not be aware of their history with "trumpeting donations"

I suspect in the long term the principal beneficiaries of this move will be these rich white women. hope I'm wrong!

I would imagine that the "principal beneficiary" of _anyone_ changing their name because they don't like what it stands for is the person/people who are making that change.

Given their considerable and complex political history, they are a weird group to single out as "rich white women not making a difference" but whatever floats your boat.

I'd totally buy a record by "The"

They'd have to be The The, though--that name's open, I think.

This is a serious topic that I should stay clear of. They mean well, and that's good.

I suspect in the long term the principal beneficiaries of this move will be these rich white women. hope I'm wrong!

lol hilarious

This band has some bad ILM threads.

this album is so fucking good!!!!!!

"texas man" and "tights on my boat" perfect

sorta glad i didn't hear "julianna calm down" before the full record, it just hit me like a truck in slow motion

"Texas Man" rules

"Tights on My Boat" and "Julianna Calm Down" sound like Taylor songs (both great), and I agree, the latter lands better in the flow of this record than it did as a single. "Young Man" is gorgeous, too.

Impressive list of co-writers on this album: Annie Clark, Ian Kirkpatrick, Justin Tranter, Julia Michaels, Ariel Rechtshaid, Dan Wilson, Sarah Aarons, Ben Abraham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighter_(album)#Track_listing

This album is amazing

oh man "Texas Man" is great. I would love to hear Bruce Springsteen cover it.

album is very good, they've really found a sweet spot between country & pop

baffled to hear that chad smith from rhcp played drums on a few tracks though??

Smith was also on Taking The Long Way. His only redeeming quality as a musician is that he’s inoffensively faceless on that record.

No producer anywhere ever would say to a drummer on a session, “Gimme a Chad Smith-type feel,” and that includes when Chad Smith is drummer on the session.

This album is good, not great.

I was underwhelmed by my first lesson, but was admittedly distracted. Can't tell what to make of my wife, a big fan, not asking to hear it again the last couple of days.

What Al and Josh said.

Really want it to be better. Always makes me a bit skeptical when they have that many song doctors.

me reading these last few posts: ?????????

i'm sorta pleased that as expected all my favorite songs (except "my best friend's weddings") are julia michaels co-writes

It's okay, not everything has to be great!

i was mainly reacting to the song doctors comment

"Sleep at Night," "Young Man," "March March," "Julianna Calm Down," terrific.

I often don't care who writes what.

the writing is really sharp, hardly a word out of place, and it works pretty powerfully as autobiography, but I also don't imagine I'll be revisiting this one very much either. musically it lacks much punch, which is esp. disappointing considering how many really thrilling songs the Chicks have made in the past. like, the title track, when I heard it I dug it but I certainly didn't anticipate it would be basically the most vibrant thing on the album.

1) How is it possible no other act is already called the Chicks?
2) Are they (can they?) retroactively change their name on past records?
3)If I tell my streaming device of choice to play the new Dixie Chicks, will it know what I'm talking about? If I tell it to play songs by the Chicks, will it also play the Dixie Chicks?

1) “A sincere and heartfelt thank you goes out to ‘The Chicks’ of NZ for their gracious gesture in allowing us to share their name. We are honored to co-exist together in the world with these exceptionally talented sisters. Chicks Rock! — Emily, Natalie and Martie”

3)If I tell my streaming device of choice to play the new Dixie Chicks, will it know what I'm talking about? If I tell it to play songs by the Chicks, will it also play the Dixie Chicks?

Apparently Spotify has already changed the name of the artist, though the old artwork remains the same:

slightly hypnotized by the phrase "the essential the chicks" pic.twitter.com/wWTyNgN2C9

— Al Shipley (@alshipley) July 20, 2020

I heard this album advertised on NPR (because of course), and found it a little surprising that Jack Antonoff was mentioned as a prominent selling point. Like, blah blah blah "brought to you by the Chicks and their album Gaslighter, their new collaboration with producer Jack Antonoff," or something like that. Weird, because he's not really a household name and also weird that the band would essentially share top-billing credit with him in an ad.

Don't disagree with Alfred that the album is good not great but it still exceeded my expectations as a comeback pivot album.

@Josh - has to be an attempt to pull in new listeners. 4 out of my 5 closest male friends (all with pretty diverse musical tastes) seem to have strong preconceived notions and judgments about this band.

But those same male friends would be pulled in to this ... by Jack Antonoff?

I think after 1989/Lover, Masseduction, Melodrama, and Norman Fucking Rockwell especially, he has more cred in certain (Pitchfork/NPR-reading) circles than the chicks do. That said, you're probably right than 0 of the 4 would know him.