Album Deep Dive: Emotion by Martina McBride
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In this episode of Across the Country with Amanda, Amanda explores Martina McBride's 1999 album Emotion. Highlighting how the album stood out during a competitive era in country music, Amanda discusses its deeper themes, unique production quality, and chart successes like “I Love You”. She also covers Martina's significant moments at award shows and how the album contributed to her career surge.
00:00 Introduction to an Underrated Album
00:59 Setting the Scene: Martina's Career in the Late 90s
02:18 The Release of 'Emotion' and Its Impact
03:52 Martina's Milestone Moments
05:23 Chart Success and Continued Dominance
06:58 Production Insights and Crossover Success
08:27 Reflecting on 'Emotion' and Its Legacy
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Transcript
Welcome to Across The Country With Amanda. I’m diving into what I think is an underrated album from the late 90s and one of the best from Martina McBride’s catalog, it’s called Emotion.
There was so much music released in 1999 and the early 2000s, and I’ve always felt that this album wasn’t necessarily lost in the shuffle, but maybe overshadowed commercially by other records. For me, I was eleven when I went to Kmart and got to buy this CD. And I loved the album. something about this record almost 25 years later that just hits me differently and I appreciate it so much more. I mean, obviously as a child I loved the catchiness of “I Love You” but this album dug deeper than most of what I was listening to on radio at the time. Sonically, it’s pure perfection. The songs are all different in lyrical content and instrumentation, but it blends flawlessly. It’s a grown-up record with such a depth to it.
Setting the scene at this time point in Martina’s career. She’s just came off her Evolution record which was a triple-platinum success. Martina’s appearances were becoming the pinnacle of the award shows. At the ACMs in 1998 she performed “Broken Wing” and then in ‘99 with “Whatever You Say” - she was getting applause between the verses, and these lengthy standing ovations. Without getting too deep into the Evolution era – because that’s a whole episode in itself – the album had five singles, all top-ten charting songs.
This was a very important time for females in country music. There were 66 songs on the charts by women in 1999. Sixty-six! And they were fantastic songs. Terri Clark, Jo De Messina, The Chicks, Chely Wright and Faith Hill, along with Martina would reach number one that year.
Martina’s “Whatever You Say” peaked at number two in early July and was the final single off her Evolution album. By the end of that month, RCA had already released the lead single from her forthcoming album. Already coming off such a momentous album, this new single was about to take Martina McBride’s career to a whole new level.
The song was also featured on the Runaway Bride soundtrack, the movie starred Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. There was a fun a music video interspersed with clips from the movie. The movie was #1 at the box office during it’s opening weekend, the soundtrack went platinum, and soon Martina McBride would have another number one hit.
The album Emotion was released September 14, 1999. Everything about this album was a little bit edgier than her previous releases. The cover art was fantastic and really helped usher in that millennium era of country music where females were becoming more fashionable and letting their personalities show. They were individuals, not just record label marketing ploys. She had just done Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair and you could tell that influenced this album majorly.
In the early fall of 1999, Martina’s song “I Love You” is racing up the charts on country radio, as well as the adult contemporary charts. Emotion is released to strong first-week sales. And then, one week later, a long overdue milestone finally happens.
The 1999 CMA Awards take place at the Grand Ole Opry house. Martina has one nomination and she’s set to perform “I Love You” on the telecast. She’s up for Female Vocalist of the Year alongside Faith Hill, Jo Dee Messina, Shania Twain, and Trisha Yearwood. She’d been nominated twice - previously in 1996 and 1998 -losing to Patty Loveless and Trisha Yearwood. She performs in this gorgeous light blue turquoise two-piece halter gown – absolutely stunning and radiant. Her award show performances are often so heavy – in terms of subject - so it was beautiful to see her in that lighthearted spirit.
Travis Tritt and Marty Roe from Diamond Rio present the award for Female Vocalist and they announce Martina’s name. She’s immediately surrounded in hugs by her husband, RCA’s Joe Galante, her record producer Paul Worley, and Shania Twain reaches out to her as she makes her way to the stage. She’s so overcome with emotion as she steps up to the microphone to give her speech, thanking her team, fans, and God. Just a beautiful moment.
The next month, her single “I Love You” would hit number one on the country airplay charts, and it stayed their for an impressive 5 weeks. It should be noted that singles didn’t stay #1 that long back during this time. But in 1999, you had giant records that held the top spot for multiple weeks: Kenny Chesney’s “How Forever Feels", George Strait’s “Write This Down”, Lonestar’s 8-week number one “Amazed,” and Tim McGraw’s “Something Like That” and “Please Remember Me”.
“I Love You” would end the year as the 24th most-played song of the year. The next single from the Emotion record would be “Love’s The Only House” – a song that conveys a powerful message.
The album quickly went gold after release, and this single would hit #3 and spend 28 weeks on the charts. There’s a must-watch ACM Awards performance of this song – everything about it is fire. The passion that she emotes. Her outfit is rocking. Leather pants and this white cropped shirt – seriously just fire. And this song is every bit as important as it was 21 years ago.
Martina continues to dominate radio and she’s part of the gigantic George Strait festival tour later that spring. She’s listed as third on the bill that includes George Strait, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Lee Ann Womack, Mark Chesnutt, Asleep at the Wheel, and Billy Gillman.
In terms of production, this album has such a different sound than her previous efforts. In a 1999 interview with Country Weekly she talked about making the album.
Martina says: “With any album you put out, you’re always nervous about whether it’s going to be accepted or not. I know it’s probably not the most traditional country album ever. But you know what? I’ve never really made traditional country albums. So in a way, I don’t think it’s going to be too shocking for people. Hopefully, they expect me to do something different with each album.”
By the summer of 2000, her third single “There You Are” was released to radio. It’s a gorgeous ballad with those soaring vocals. She performed it later that fall on the CMAs with an orchestra. Simply stunning. The song was also featured on the Where the Heart Is movie soundtrack. This would become her first single to reach the top 15 of the adult contemporary charts. It peaked at number ten on the country charts.
Since her second album, The Way That I Am, Martina has co-produced all of her records.
“I was involved with every little detail,” Martina told Country Weekly in 1999. “Everything from arrangements to the drum sounds, to the spacing between each song on the record. I can’t imagine doing it any other way. There’s no right or wrong way, but for me, producing is really fun and exciting.”
Martina was becoming a household name at this point. Of course, she’s been a staple on country radio for almost a decade, but she was really starting to become a crossover star. She represented country music in such a classy manner. Country music didn’t have the huge presence on late night tv, talk shows, or magazines that’s common today, but Martina’s music resonated with listeners and she became one of the leading faces of the genre. She was even featured on Kellog’s cereal boxes during a summer promotion. She landed a spot on the 2001 American Music Awards where she performed “It’s My Time.”
I just completely respect the way Martina has handled fame and what comes with it. She’s often quoted that she doesn’t want to be a celebrity, she just wants to be able to get the music to as many people as possible.
I think if you go back and listen to other albums from that era, this one is timeless in its production. Nothing sounds dated. It truly encompasses the title, Emotion, in every way. Whether you’ve had this CD in your collection or you haven’t listened to it yet, I would recommend exploring the Emotion album. It’s a quieter record that provides this intimate listening experience.
Thanks for joining me on this deep dive of Martina McBride’s Emotion record.