Dixie Chicks Empower Women in New Song, ‘Julianna Calm Down’ [LISTEN]
The Dixie Chicks have released a new female empowerment anthem in advance of their new album, Gaslighter. The superstar country trio dropped a new song titled "Julianna Calm Down" via IGTV on Thursday (April 30).
The Grammy-winning country trio consisting of Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire are reaching out to women who are involved in relationships with domineering men in the new song. They take the name Julianna from Strayer's daughter, though it's really a universal address to women everywhere.
“Julianna, calm down / You know he’s about to leave but don’t panic / Don’t give him the satisfaction that you can’t handle it / Breathe," Maines advises in the lyrics.
The song feels like an extension of what's becoming a running theme for the upcoming album. The Dixie Chicks released the title song, "Gaslighter," on March 4, and that track is an angry, vengeful breakup song that seems designed to call out Maines' divorce from actor Adrian Pasdar.
The Dixie Chicks initially announced the release of Gaslighter for May 1, but pushed the album release back indefinitely in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The project will be the trio's first album since they released Taking the Long Way in 2006; that album was their first since negative comments Maines made about then-President George W. Bush during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The backlash from those remarks damaged the Chicks' career and resulted in country stations banning their music across America. The hit-making trio played their first U.S. tour dates since then in 2016, and most recently collaborated with Taylor Swift on "Soon You'll Get Better," a track from her Lover album.
The Dixie Chicks have also announced that they will tour arenas in 2020, though it's unclear where those plans stand in light of the pandemic.
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