"Strange" is a song written by

Wendell Mobley Wendell Lee Mobley (born in Celina, Ohio) is an American country music songwriter. He has written No. 1 hits for Rascal Flatts and Kenny Chesney. He began playing in local bands before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, where he found a job playing ...

Jason Sellers Jason Dale Sellers (born March 4, 1971) is an American country music artist. After several years of touring the United States in his family's band, Sellers joined the road band of Ricky Skaggs. By 1997, he was signed to a recording contract with B ...

and

Neil Thrasher Joe Neil Thrasher Jr. (born July 13, 1965) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1995 and 1997, he and Kelly Shiver comprised the duo Thrasher Shiver, which recorded a studio album for Asylum Records in 1996 and charted ...

, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire ( ; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music, country singer and actress. Dubbed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Sin ...

as her first release for the Valory label, a sister label of

Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta and ...

. McEntire debuted the song on the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller (songwriter), Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris ...

awards the week before its release to country radio. It is the first single from her twenty-fifth studio album, '' Keep On Loving You'', released on August 18, 2009.

Content

"Strange" is a moderate up-tempo in which the narrator says that she has just ended a relationship, and that she finds it "strange" that she is not upset over its ending. McEntire described the song as "tongue-in-cheek. It's a little bit about, you know, 'I'm supposed to be in love with this guy and really heartbroken, but I'm not.' So, it's a tough-woman song."

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave the song a favorable review, saying that McEntire sang the song strongly, and by doing so, sounded "renewed, refreshed and ready to conquer the charts once again." ''Billboard'' also gave the song a positive review, with critic Deborah Evans Price saying McEntire delivers "the ultimate sassy anthem about a woman's resilience" and calling it a "delicious performance from one of country music's most gifted divas." ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' called the song the best on the album, by saying "Reba McEntire leads off her 31st album with 'Strange', an addictively sinister kiss-off that the next 12 tracks struggle to match".

Music video

A music video, directed by

Trey Fanjoy Trey Fanjoy is an American music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV. She is the first woman to win the Country Music Ass ...

, premiered on CMT on May 28, 2009. In the video, McEntire is shown in bed, surrounded by used tissues and chocolates while she talks on the phone. Later, she is shown looking through a rack of strapless black dresses. Throughout the video, scenes of her performing with her band and in front of a kaleidoscope background are included. This is also the first music video in which her road band appears. It is also her first music video where she's credited as just Reba.

Chart performance

"Strange" was released to radio on April 6, 2009, one day after McEntire performed the song on the

awards show. On the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart dated for April 25, 2009, the song debuted at number 39, the highest solo chart debut of her career.

Year-end charts

References

{{Reba McEntire singles 2009 singles Songs written by Neil Thrasher Songs written by Jason Sellers Songs written by Wendell Mobley Reba McEntire songs Music videos directed by Trey Fanjoy Big Machine Records singles Song recordings produced by Mark Bright (record producer) 2009 songs