Dear AVROTROS. Waylon had a perfectly serviceable song. He could have sung this on his own in faux cowboy gear and a stetson with a southern drawl, and that would have been a perfectly acceptable qualifier.
Instead, you have decided to dress him like Bet Lynch a la mid 1980’s (as Monty has referenced earlier), with four backing dancers doing interpretive dance during the last two minutes, but looking like they are having a seizure or have stepped on a live electric cable.
There could be something symbolic about using four black dancers. Perhaps they’re there to offer some clever Dutch homage to the fact that much as country music is seen as ‘white’, the first million-selling country record was Ray Charles‘s massive 1962 hit ‘Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music’ – but I may be overthinking this. It’s been a long day.
This should have been so much more.
On radio it’s a great song. On MP3 it’s a great song. But someone somewhere has made a huge miscalculation with this staging. Waylon’s image will not have taken a tumble if there is adverse press about the staging. He won’t care where it finishes as his album is out and its audience will get a huge reminder to buy it.
It’s still a tough watch.