Reba McEntire delivered a heartfelt tribute to her late mother during The Voice, performing her emotional new ballad, “Seven Minutes in Heaven.” The beloved country star and first-time coach on the smash-hit competition show recently included the song on Not That Fancy, her album with a companion lifestyle book.
“Seven Minutes in Heaven” has since resonated with listeners who relate to missing lost loved ones. McEntire previously said she’s “been so touched,” to see everyone’s reactions to the song she sings in honor of her mother, Jacqueline, who died in 2020. McEntire spoke about her close relationship with her mother during an October interview on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, sharing that she felt as though she “didn’t want to” sing anymore after the loss. “I always sang for Mama.”
McEntire released Not That Fancy in October, featuring her career-spanning hits like “I’m A Survivor,” “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” “Fancy” and “Consider Me Gone,” among others. She paired the album with a companion book with recipes, stories and more. McEntire also debuted a music video that features a woman to play her mother. She said in a statement shared by her record label:
“I picked out the lady to play mama, Eleanor. She did a great job. And she was a sweetheart to get to work with. That is exactly what I thought it would look like if I went to heaven and it was, you know, with the smoke coming in and out, made it look really heavenly. And I thought it would be something familiar, something that you’d feel comfortable with. God thinks of everything. And so, to walk up to the booth, and the next time I walk up and mama’s there and I put my arms on her shoulders, Eleanor’s hands were very similar to mama’s when she was young. So that got me to, they kept saying, ‘Okay, let’s do it again. I said, ‘Okay, let’s take a little break here. Get in here to redo my makeup. Because I would, I just bawled. And Eleanor was sitting across from me at the booth, and she’d see me crying. She’d try to reach for a napkin out of the napkin dispenser on the table. And I’d say, ‘Eleanor, that’s okay. It’s part of the video.’ ‘You don’t want to wipe?’ I said, ‘I’m good. I’m good.’ But she was just like a mother, you know, and they’re trying to make sure everything was all right. It was healing. It was healing for me to do that video and kind of like get it out because it still hurts.”
Find McEntire's full Not That Fancy album on iHeartRadio here, and watch her performance on The Voice below.