Category: Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum “Privately” Chatted With Blues Singer Lady A About Taking Her Name
Last week Lady Antebellum, a country music group whose music I’ve never ever heard (I exclusively listen to Imagine Dragons [JK JK]) changed their name to Lady A after “many honest conversations” with their Black friends. Because now that everyone finally agrees racism is bad, using the word “antebellum”, which harkens back to the pre-Civil War South and slavery, is a no-go.
But, as we all know, the road to problematic is paved with good intentions. The band was immediately called out for using the same name as Anita White, a Black Seattle blues singer who’s been performing as “Lady A” for over two decades. The real Lady A was annoyed no one reached out to her or bothered to Google the name. A-greed! Now the band, in White Damage Control Level 2.0 (we saw Kristen Bell in this mode yesterday), has shared that they “privately” spoke to Lady A to discuss the name.
Lady A Sings The Blues: Lady Antebellum’s New Name Was Already Taken By A Black Blues Singer
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ spiritual wedding band, Lady Antebellum, just made the decision to remove the spiritual confederate flag from their name and have rebranded themselves as Lady A after “having many honest conversations with some of our closest Black friends.” However, according to Rolling Stone, Lady Antebellum’s best Black friends failed to recommend they Google Lady A before changing everything “on social media and distribution platforms including Spotify and Apple Music, and the group’s website,” because it turns out the name was already being used by Anita White, a Black blues singer from Seattle who has been performing and recording under the name Lady A for over 20 years. If this is not an occasion for an Issa Rae “deep, heavy, negro spiritual sigh,” I don’t know what is.