McEntire performed the emotional song on December 3, 2024 live The Voice, and fans were moved by the powerful lyrics. So what is “Consider Me Gone” about? Read on to learn all about the song’s meaning and watch her most recent performance of it, below.
What is Reba McEntire’s song “Consider Me Gone” about?
Released in 2009 on her 27th studio album, Keep On Loving You, “Consider Me Gone” was written by Steve Diamond and Marv Green for McEntire. The country song paints the picture of a woman feeling shut out or ignored by her partner, despite her best efforts to foster a deeper connection and address the problems in the relationship.
As McEntire sings in the first verse, “Every time I turn the conversation / To something deeper than the weather / I can feel you all but shutting down / And when I need an explanation for the silence / You just tell me you don’t wanna talk about it now / What you’re not saying is coming in loud and clear / We’re at a crossroads here.”
In a 2015 interview with The Boot, Diamond said he and Green had wanted to write a song about “the inattentiveness of men sometimes.”
“I know in my own case, I don’t always pay attention to my wife and what she needs,” the songwriter explained. “And this was a song about a woman just wanting to have some power in a relationship … and to be able to dictate some terms.”
That message is heard loud and clear in the song’s chorus: “If I’m not the one thing you can’t stand to lose / If I’m not that arrow to the heart of you / If you don’t get drunk on my kiss / If you think you can do better than this / Then I guess we’re done / Let’s not drag this on / Consider me gone.”
Reba McEntire said she’s pulled toward songs that “touch my heart”
During McEntire’s SIRIUS XM Artist Confidential special in 2009, the country legend described the woman in “Consider Me Gone” as someone who doesn’t beat around the bush. “It’s about this woman who’s a confrontational woman,” she said. “This lady, boy, she takes the bull by the horns and she says, ‘Look, we got a problem here’ and he’s still not paying any attention. So she said, ‘If I’m not the one thing you can’t stand to lose, consider me gone, I’m outta here.’”
When asked how she chose which songs to put on Keep On Loving You, McEntire said she followed the same formula she always has. “It’s those songs that touch my heart, those are the songs I listen to and gravitate toward,” she explained. “Because if I can sing a song that touches my heart, hopefully when I sing it, it touches your heart.”
Reba McEntire performed her song “Consider Me Gone” on The Voice
Reba McEntire Performs “Consider Me Gone” | The Voice Lives | NBC
Roughly 15 years after the song was first released, McEntire performed “Consider Me Gone” live on The Voice ahead of the Season 26 finale. And fans were absolutely moved.
“Wow what a showstopper!! I couldn’t concentrate after that performance!” one fan commented on Instagram. “There’s a reason they call her Queen! She looked fabulous and sounded amazing!!!!”
“My favorite song,” another said. “Gets me every time. I love it. Such an emotional song. Very resonant.”
“Sing it, Miss Reba. Love the message of this song,” one person wrote on YouTube, while another added, “Still remember all the words to this song 15 years later.”
