Without meaning to get offensive (because we still have Dolly Parton, and God bless her soul)… is Shania Twain our equivalent country queen?
I say this as someone who listened to Up! (both versions) throughout my formative years and honestly every single one of those songs was important to me at some point - from c’est la vie, which is fairly upbeat, to It Only Hurts When I’m Breathing, which is still my go-to sad song for when my depression catches up to me.
Just wanted to cast the feelers out; are we in the same boat? If not, why not? I want to contribute more but I want to know more about everyone here first 😅
Tbh that was the song that got me listening to Shania in the first place. It is indeed a banger; Up! has many more. She’s talented!
You are correct though, Dolly is incredible. I just wasn’t really aware of her and everything she’s done until relatively recently (I only watched Steel Magnolias for the first time this week - gay gasp - so I’m a little sheltered, one of my many flaws)
Her music is just the tip of the iceberg with Dolly, she’s a legit, pure, decent and caring human being who is insanely talented at song writing, like she wrote the songs Jolene and I will always love you, in one day, on the same day and they’re 2 straight classic songs, she is a great actor, 9 to 5 and the best littlest whore house in Texas are great movies.
She set up a program to help kids get access to books and learn to read, then during the pandemic she would 3 times a day, every day read bedtime stories to kids on YouTube, live streaming in each us time zone so she didn’t miss any parts.
One of my first crushes and still crush hard on her, she’s just a genuine human and someone I think people should use as a role model.
Thank you for articulating this. Dolly is the type of person that goes out of her way to reduce other peoples suffering. We should all aspire to be like that.
One funny story about her, she was walking around a city, stumbled across a drag Dolly Parton impersonation competition, decided for a laugh shed join, she lost that competition and the drag queen that won said " you k ow why you lost, your tits are too small", she loved it because the drag queen had no clue they were talking to Dolly herself.
Man I love that woman.
Edit: article about it: https://www.womansworld.com/posts/entertainment/dolly-parton-lookalike-164680
I know it’s super late, but thank you for this comprehensive analysis. I’ve been admittedly lax in recognising Dolly’s greatness (I’ve always known she was awesome, but didn’t quite recognise the extent, as a sheltered gay) but your post did open my eyes to how much catching up I have to do.
I haven’t deleted the post because I did relate to Shania more, since she was my icon, but yeah… she doesn’t hold a candle to Dolly, I’ll admit that. Thanks for giving me a heads up for more things to watch, listen to, and appreciate Dolly for everything she is. 💙