Rebranding when you’re a famous band was always going to be difficult and complicated, but it’s also probably true that the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum weren’t expecting changing their name to Lady A to be just as complicated as it has been.
Their problems began when another artist, who already went by the name Lady A, began to speak up.
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Initially, the band wanted to drop ‘Antebellum’ from their name due to it’s association with the period of history before the Civil War, which included slavery.
“We are regretful and embarrassed to say that we did not take into account the associations that weigh down this word,” the band said in a statement .
However, it soon came to light that there was already a blues artist who had gone by the name Lady A for decades, and the two Lady As are now embroiled in a lawsuit over the use of the name .
Anita White, the artist who has gone by Lady A for her entire career, has now spoken out about the lawsuit.
“It’s ironic that they want to be woke, but at the same time, you only want to be partially woke,” Anita said in a new interview . “What does ‘coexistence’ look like? Nobody would answer that specific question. I don’t see how coexistence is going to work,” she said, referring to the band’s initial assurance that the two artists would find a way to both exist as ‘Lady A.’
“As soon as you put a CD out as Lady A, you’re going to wipe me off social media,” Anita continued.
“You’re going to wipe me off Amazon, iTunes and Spotify. I was very specific about what it is that would happen. So, I needed specifics as to how this was going to work, because they kept saying, ‘Oh, don’t worry, you’re not going to get buried. Don’t worry about it. You’re not going to get buried,'” she continued.
“Black people, indigenous people, people of color — we’ve had our artistry, our music, our language, our culture and our names taken from us.”
“You can’t continue to take from us. Because if you’re going to be an ally, you need to put some power behind your words. If you’re going to be an ally, sometimes you have to give up something,” she concluded.
What do you think about all this drama? Let us know your opinion in the comments!
