Reba McEntire Pays Homage to Her Late Mother

During Tuesday night’s (Dec. 5) episode of The Voice, Reba McEntire left her spinning chair to show the contestants how it’s done.

Ditching her coaching duties for a few minutes, McEntire took centerstage to treat the audience to a performance of her recent release, “Seven Minutes in Heaven.”

Throughout this season of the singing competition show, McEntire has been encouraging contestants to let the music do the talking. She took her own advice and delivered the tender lyrics from a stationary point on stage. Instead of relying on dance moves or pyrotechnics, the country legend proved just how powerful vocals can be on their own.

As the song concluded, the camera panned out to show a gorgeous black-and-white image of the singer’s late mother displayed high above the stage. McEntire lost her mom, Jacqueline, in March 2020, and she has shared that she chose to record “Seven Minutes in Heaven” because it reminds her of her.

The emotional song struck a chord with both McEntire’s fellow coaches and the audience. As soon as she stepped off the stage, John Legend, Gwen Stefani and Niall Horan all took a moment to congratulate McEntire on a job well done, and the crowd rewarded her with a “Reba!” chant.

McEntire released “Seven Minutes in Heaven” earlier in 2023. The Queen of Country also pays homage to her mom in the official music video for the emotional track. She acts out the lyrics as she sings, sitting down in a “quiet corner booth” and ordering a beer as she waits for the one person she’s waiting to see.

Eventually, a figure shows up to sit across the booth from McEntire, and though her face is never shown in the video, her frame and hairstyle makes it clear that it’s her mother Jacqueline that she’s thinking about as she sings.

The Voice airs Monday and Tuesday nights on NBC.