She has done it again, Ashley McBryde fans! The singer just dropped a new track, “Martha Divine,” and accompanying video. The video continues the story that she started with the video for “One Night Standards,” proving McBryde isn’t afraid to take chances in her music, in her videos, or in her career.
“‘Martha Divine’ was so much fun to write because [the song’s co-writer] Jeremy Spillman wasn’t afraid to get weird with me,” McBryde explained to NPR of the story behind the song. “I told him I wanted to write something dark, and we created this story that surrounds the most delightful trollop of a human being and gets down underneath the fingernails of the uncomfortable truth about family dynamics. I was certain no one would let me shoot a video that actually reflected the lyrics, but Reid Long helped me bring it to life in a way that only he could.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
At the end of the video, McBryde teases the conclusion of the storyline, which stopped as McBryde and a friend drive away with a person in their trunk, while McBryde sings, “Martha Divine, Martha Divine / You put your hands on the wrong damn man this time / Martha Divine, your a–– is mine / And it ain’t murder if I bury you alive / Martha Divine.”
The storyline in the videos, as in the songs, centers around a one-night stand gone awry –– a topic in general that is more often deemed acceptable by male artists than female artists, not that McBryde cares.
“It was taboo then and they did it and it’s taboo now and we do it and that’s why we do it, because it’s taboo,” McBryde previously explained to PopCulture.com and other media. “It’s like having too many tattoos. I don’t know, I think the touchy subjects are okay to handle. I think it’s alright to do and if it’s uncomfortable, it’s okay, the song is only three and a half minutes long. It’s okay to be uncomfortable for three and a half minutes.”
The Arkansas native only needs to look to her own heroes to find the inspiration to write and record songs that others might deem inappropriate.
“It’s not all that common for a chick to be singing about one-night stands, and some people feel that we shouldn’t be doing that, but Loretta [Lynn] did it, Tammy [Wynette] did it,” McBryde explained. “It happens all the time, so why not tackle it?”
Photo Credit: Getty / Erika Goldring
