“Need You Now” by Lady A, Friday, February 17, 2023

 

Formed in 2006, Lady A, then known as Lady Antebellum, scored a massive Country crossover hit from their sophomore record, the title track "Need You Now." The band named themselves after doing a photo-shoot dressed in Southern pre-Civil War-era clothing, but following the 2020 George Floyd protests decided to change their name to Lady A due to the nuanced connotations the term Antebellum held in the cultural consciousness at the time.

I SAID I WOULDN’T CALL, BUT I’M A LITTLE DRUNK. Lady A isn't the only country group to change their name because social issues. Dallas-based trio formerly known as The Dixie Chicks dropped the word dixie from their name, simply becoming The Chicks. Of course, not everyone was satisfied with the name changes for either band, but Lady A's was particularly polarizing. Country music listeners tend to be politically conservative, and some viewed the trio's name change as erasure of Southern heritage. Some accused the group of giving into "woke" trends. But others felt that Lady A wasn't doing enough or perhaps doing the bare minimum to stay culturally relevant. Calling themselves Lady A only censured the word that they were referencing as if showing an R-rated movie on television or an explicit lyric on the radio. The checkered meaning left in the band's name, future generations or new fans need only ask what the A stands to see that Lady A was a band named after a problematic time in America's past. 

I’D RATHER HURT THAN FEEL NOTHIN’ AT ALL. When American settlers discovered America, they stole lands from the people already living there. Call it CRT, but I call it historical fact as it is. When Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A, they didn't consider that there already was a Lady A, Seattle-based blues, soul, and gospel singer Anita White, who had been using the moniker for over twenty years. The band sued White after she refused to stop using the moniker and was eventually settled in court with the results undisclosed to the public. The irony of the situation felt like a story from Curb Your Enthusiasm, a group of white people trying to prove their not racist by covering up their racist past by stealing their new name from a African American artist. Maybe this isn't so surprising from a band whose biggest single is about a drunken booty call. Even if it's how 50% of babies are made in the south, you eventually have to live up to the fact that being lonely, drunk, and horny isn't a logical excuse for getting back with his beatin' and cheatin' ass. And when you decide to change your name on a whim because your "eyes are opened" to how something you said in your past could be taken as racist, you shouldn't appropriate another artist's name and litigate until you have it. And if these connections seem a little loose, please forgive me. I, too, am a little drunk... on jet lag.

Read the lyrics on Genius.