When you walk into the home of country music legend Reba McEntire, one room might cause you to take a step back: her cowboy boots room.
“My boot room is the thing that everybody goes into and says, ‘Oh my gosh,’” McEntire tells TODAY.com during an interview for her partnership with Realtor.com.
“I have a lot of boots,” she continues. “That’s where we do our fittings for our projects. Last time I counted, I had 100 pairs of boots, and I think it’s doubled since then.”
For those who can’t incorporate a room filled with cowboy boots into their space, McEntire says she makes a house a home through pictures, family and pets. She says the location is also of importance, as well as “how it makes you feel inside and out.”
“And then if the kitchen is really good,” McEntire continues. “I have to have a good kitchen, not because I’m a good cook but because no matter how many people you bring over to your house for a party, everybody winds up in the kitchen.”
“So it’s a very important place,” she adds.
Along with starring in her new television show, “Happy’s Place,” and hosting the Academy of Country Music Awards May 8, McEntire was a judge on Season 26 of singing competition show, “The Voice.”
She did not, however, return for Season 27.
When asked why she didn’t reclaim her spot on the judges’ panel, McEntire pointed to her busy agenda this year.
THE VOICE — “Live Finale Part 1” Episode 2619A — Pictured: (l-r) Carson Daly, Michael Bublé, Gwen Stefani, Reba McEntire, Snoop Dogg — (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC via Getty Images)
“Oh, the scheduling was totally it,” she says, before crediting a new Season 27 judge. “I thought Kelsey Ballerini did such a great job. That was a really good pick with her.”
The energy and chemistry among “The Voice” judges is “very important,” McEntire says. “Fans are not stupid. They know when people are not getting along and they’re acting like they are.”
Reba McEntire and Snoop Dogg’s unlikely chemistry
One unexpected judging duo to come out of McEntire’s season of “The Voice” was the “Fancy” singer and Snoop Dogg.
“It kind of surprised me, too,” McEntire says of her recognizable rapport with Snoop Dogg.
Before fans saw their friendship play out on TV, McEntire tells TODAY.com that she first met the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” rapper on a flight back from Africa.
“In 2013, we were on the same plane, and he came back and he said, ‘Hey, I’m Snoop.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know.’ (He said,) ‘Can we take a picture together?’ and I still have it,” she recalls.
THE VOICE — “The Playoffs Part 3” Episode 2617 — Pictured: (l-r) Reba McEntire, Snoop Dogg — (Photo by: Tyler Golden/NBC via Getty Images)
McEntire continued of the rapper, “He’s a hoot. We bonded really quick. He’s a nice guy, big heart, loves family, loves his fans.”
As someone who sat next to Snoop Dogg for the entirety of the singing competition show season, McEntire says some fans might not realize that he “gives out some of the best one-liners.”
“I was so glad I got to sit by him because a lot of times he’ll say stuff and people might not hear it, but I was very entertained all the time sitting by Snoop,” McEntire adds.
The virality of ‘I’m a Survivor’ over 20 years later
If McEntire’s “I’m a Survivor” doesn’t resonate from being a Billboard No. 1 hit when it released in 2001, anyone on TikTok surely recognizes the tune.
Ushering a new generation of McEntire fans, the song has gone viral on the social media platform, particularly the following lines: “A single mom who works two jobs/ Who loves her kids and never stops/ With gentle hands and the heart of a fighter/ I’m a survivor.”
The popular videos typically capture a person dramatically completing mundane tasks to no recognition.
McEntire even hopped on the trend herself, sharing a video carrying two buckets of food across the yard to feed her donkeys. In the caption, she wrote, “When it’s time to feed your donkeys and they’re not the least bit impressed.”
McEntire reminds that the hit song is “fairly old,” but is not surprised that the relatability remains years later.
“All of us are survivors. We’ve been through situations that are different from our neighbor, our family members, and we get through them by the grace of God,” she says.
“So, ‘I’m a Survivor’ is a relatable song, and that’s when you know you found a song that touched people’s hearts,” McEntire adds.
When she was originally pitched the song, the three-time Grammy Award winner recalls listening and thinking about her cousin, who she says has “been through an awful lot,” then remembering her own journey.
“It all goes back to a successful song is a song that people can relate to,” McEntire says. “And then when they relate to it, they sing along with it; and when they sing along with it, they’re a part of the concert. They’re part of the of every aspect of the song.”
Reba McEntire reveals dream collabs — with 1 singer outside country altogether
Revered by the Country Music Hall of Fame as “the most successful female country performer of her generation,” McEntire says the industry has changed “in every way” since she hit the scene 50 years ago.
Reminiscing on the “healthy” shifts within country music, McEntire says, “It’s gone cyclical. It’s gone contemporary. It’s gone traditional. It’ll go back and forth. It’s a different kind of country music than what I grew up on.”
When it comes to the greats, McEntire says her “Mount Rushmore of country artists” would be Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell and Merle Haggard.
“They were very strong people who came from assorted backgrounds, most of them with very rough upbringings, with lessons that they can teach other people in their songs, in their stories, in their biographies, in their documentaries,” McEntire says.
She continued, “I think that’s what we’re put on Earth for – to help heal people who have hurts, and that you can help heal those hurts by past experiences.”
Music specifically, McEntire explains, is “so valuable” when it comes to healing because “you can tell in a song things that you can’t tell in person because it might be too personal.”
As for whom she hopes to collaborate with next, McEntire says, “I’ve always said Bette Midler. I think she’d be a hoot to create a song with.”
But McEntire gave another dream singing partner, who has taken the pop world by storm but has yet to publicly give country a try.
“Dua Lipa, I met her at an award show last year, and I’d never met her before. I was not familiar with her music,” she says. “Now in my concerts, I do ‘Don’t Start Now’ I watched her documentaries and her concerts, and she’s wonderful.”
McEntire adds, “I’d love to do a song with her.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from NBC News:
