If you’ve spent much time on TikTok in the past month, particularly if you consider yourself tapped into the goings-on in American politics, you’ve probably heard The Chicks‘ nostalgic anthem, “Not Ready To Make Nice” a time or two.
For me, hearing the song again on TikTok 18 years after its release unlocked a core memory. Many millennial women were raised on music by The Chicks (formerly known as The Dixie Chicks), and it seems, a whole new generation of people is joining the fan club. The first video that popped up on my FYP featuring “Not Ready To Make Nice” made sense. Posted on July 21 by New York-based TikToker Zachariah Porter (who regularly belts out nostalgic songs in his apartment on TikTok), the video has text that reads, “Sorry I’m late. I was throat screaming my favourite bridge of all time”. The caption reads: “@The Chicks had flames coming out of their pens when they wrote this one”.
In the days following, I heard the song again, and again, and again. That caught my attention. So, once I too stopped belting out the bridge, I went digging to find out why it was suddenly trending again after so long. As an Australian, I didn’t know the context behind “Not Ready To Make Nice”, but it was easy enough to spot that most of the recent posts featuring the song involve commentary about the US election.
With lyrics like, “I’m not ready to make nice, I’m not ready to back down, I’m still mad as hell and I don’t have time, To go ’round and ’round and ’round. It’s too late to make it right, I probably wouldn’t if I could”, it’s not hard to guess what side of the political divide The Chicks and their many fans lay, based on “Not Ready To Make Nice” alone. Particularly when you view the lyrics in the context of big issues plaguing the US right now, including the overturning of Roe v Wade, which long protected a woman’s right to seek an abortion in America. Of course we’re “mad”.
So, what’s the story behind the song and why is it once again trending? We’re so glad you asked.
What Is The Chicks’ Song “Not Ready To Make Nice” About?
When The Chicks released the hit single, “Not Ready To Make Nice”, on March 20, 2006, it came after three years of intense vitriol over the band publicly criticising the President. In some circles (predominantly in the US and often with conservative or Republican voters), the mere mention of the band will illicit questions like, “do we hate them?”. Even in 2024.
It all started on March 12, 2003, when during a London performance, the lead singer Natalie Maines announced that she was ashamed of the then-President George Bush.
“Just so you know, ” Maines said between songs. “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.” It was 18 months after the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York City, and Bush was just nine days away from announcing the war on Iraq that went on to kill approximately 200,000 Iraqi civilians and almost 5,000 US servicemembers. Patriotism was at an all-time high — perhaps nowhere more so than in the country music scene.
The backlash was swift. Radio stations boycotted the group and the three bandmates — Maines, Martie Maguire, and Emily Robinson — received death threats for years. This was even before social media, but it’s considered the first true “cancellation”. The Guardian released an article sharing angry statements from various people in the music industry, alongside The Chicks’ statement. One group of protestors even went to the odd lengths of obtaining a 15,000-kilogram tractor to drive over The Chicks CDs.
Funnily enough, Bush himself didn’t seem all that offended, saying in an interview, “The Dixie Chicks are free to speak their mind. They can say what they want to say”.
It was almost three years to the day that they dropped their hit single, “Not Ready To Make Nice”. The lyrics are an obvious response to the controversy. We refer you to the bridge Porter belts out in the TikTok above. The lyrics are powerful: “And how in the world can the words that I said, Send somebody so over the edge, That they’d write me a letter, sayin’ that I better, Shut up and sing or my life will be over”.
The following year, at the 2007 Grammy Awards, they performed the song live and picked up five awards. “Not Ready To Make Nice” won Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. The album, Taking The Long Way, also won Album of the Year and Best Country Album. It’s worth noting that The Chicks didn’t garner even a single nomination at the American Country Music Awards that year, indicative of how the industry still felt about them.
Why Is The Chicks’ Song “Not Ready To Make Nice” Trending In 2024?
Besides the song being objectively a banger, there’s a good reason women are revisiting the anthem in 2024. The US election takes place later this year, and “Not Ready To Make Nice” tends to bubble up around this time in the political cycle, as people express their democratic leaning and rage over the continued rise of conservative ideologies.
But this time, it’s looking a little bit different. Well, kind of. Some young conservatives have misunderstood the meaning behind the song, perhaps because they were too young to have experienced the furore first-hand. People have, of course, responded to these videos with, “uh, who’s gonna tell them what the song is actually about?”. It also appears these young conservatives have since deleted these videos, but there are still plenty of clap-backs to the trend on TikTok.
Though it’s probably not what conservatives intended, it’s inspired many liberal voters to once again share the poignancy of the song. My personal favourite video comes from a TikToker who is also a stay-at-home mother living in a red state. While washing the dishes, she passionately sings along while text appears on the screen, expressing that many people assume she is a conservative voter, as a white homemaker living in a rural small town. As she sings, she writes: “Wrong. More loud and proud than ever knowing I was raised on the music of these amazing, beautiful, strong women”.
Her comment section has been flooded with similarly-minded women who praise her for speaking up about her beliefs. Sadly, just as many comments insult her appearance, her husband’s appearance, and urge her to move states immedaitely. The parallels between how she is being treated (though admittedly on a smaller scale) and how The Chicks were treated following the events of 2003 are obvious — and it only serves to prove that “Not Ready To Make Nice” is as relevant today as it was when it was released in 2006.
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