{"id":3079,"date":"2015-02-01T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/?p=3079"},"modified":"2015-02-01T21:28:59","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T03:28:59","slug":"snl-blake-shelton-wishes-on-a-boot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/2015\/02\/01\/snl-blake-shelton-wishes-on-a-boot\/","title":{"rendered":"SNL: Blake Shelton Wishes on a Boot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/01\/snl-blake-shelton-main-2.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"  wp-image-3088 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/01\/snl-blake-shelton-main-2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"snl blake shelton main 2\" width=\"491\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/01\/snl-blake-shelton-main-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/01\/snl-blake-shelton-main-2.jpg 556w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px\" \/><\/a>Country music took the stage on <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em> on Saturday, January 24, when Blake Shelton acted as host and musical talent. Shelton, 2014 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year award winner and <em>The Voice<\/em> coach, was his usual charming self and used his witty humor to mock the genre he has mastered. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/style-blog\/wp\/2015\/01\/24\/how-blake-shelton-replaced-taylor-swift-as-the-face-of-country-music\/\">Washington Post<\/a> reported that Shelton is the first country artist to host SNL since Taylor Swift in 2009, proving that Shelton is the face of country music and a big part of pop culture.<\/p>\n<p>Shelton\u2019s lack of acting experience was apparent but the writers catered to his strengths by using his country background in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hulu.com\/watch\/741989\">Opening Monologue<\/a> and reenacting <em>Hee-Haw<\/em>, a hillbilly classic comedy that Shelton grew up watching. I\u2019ve never seen <em>Hee-Haw<\/em>, but it was easy to follow the sketch. However, I did not really enjoy it. SNL turned it into slapstick humor with portrayal of \u201csimple\u201d country folks that wasn\u2019t funny.\u00a0The &#8220;Old Coot&#8221; referred to taking his sister out for their anniversary.Shelton also appeared in a very entertaining <em>The Bachelor<\/em> spoof, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hulu.com\/watch\/741991\">\u201cFarm Hunk.\u201d<\/a> Shelton\u2019s musical performances of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hulu.com\/watch\/741987\">\u201cNeon Trees\u201d<\/a> and \u201cBoys Round Here\u201d were easily two of the best parts of the show. Both performances gave the show a burst of energy. Shelton\u2019s vocals were in perfect pitch and his stage presence demonstrated why he is such a big name in the country genre. However, the segment that stole the night was a spoof titled \u201cWishin\u2019 Boot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Wishin&#039; Boot - Saturday Night Live\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YA756ItcL-s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There is no doubt that \u201cWishin\u2019 Boot,\u201d a parody of country ballads and music videos, was the nights\u2019 best comedy sketch. In the music video, we see a dingy room and crying girls, which commonly appear in country music videos. Joined by Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant, the premise of \u201cWishin\u2019 Boot\u201d is that in times of need, a magical cowboy boot will solve all your problems. As the song says, \u201cit\u2019s hope in the form of a little ol\u2019 dirty boot.\u201d What worked about this sketch was Shelton\u2019s ability to shine a light on the stereotypes of country and play with the norms of the genre. The video starts out with McKinnon lamenting poverty stricken life, mocking the norm of hardship. She is then blessed by a \u201cwishin\u2019 boot\u201d, poking fun at the faith that country songs often reference.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/01\/Blake-Shelton-SNL.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"  wp-image-3097 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/01\/Blake-Shelton-SNL-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Blake Shelton SNL\" width=\"491\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/01\/Blake-Shelton-SNL-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/01\/Blake-Shelton-SNL.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px\" \/><\/a>Shelton obviously enjoyed himself and effectively used his vocal skills and natural sense of humor. However, based on the <em>Hee-Haw<\/em> skit, I question whether the writers really appreciate the dominant position the country genre has in the music industry today. Maybe the 15% increase in <a href=\"http:\/\/deadline.com\/2015\/01\/saturday-night-live-ratings-blake-shelton-host-1201358151\/\">ratings<\/a> &#8211; likely due to Shelton\u2019s presence &#8211; will convince them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Country music took the stage on Saturday Night Live on Saturday, January 24, when Blake Shelton acted as host and musical talent. Shelton, 2014 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year award winner and The Voice coach, was his usual charming &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/2015\/02\/01\/snl-blake-shelton-wishes-on-a-boot\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,67,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies-tv","category-reviews","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3079"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3189,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079\/revisions\/3189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}