Reba McEntire Performs ‘Somehow You Do’ at the Oscars…With Travis Barker on Drums

Reba McEntire performed the Best Original Song nominee “Somehow You Do” at the 2022 Academy Awards. Written by Diane Warren, it’s an inspirational ballad of perseverance that appears in the film Four Good Days, a drama about a daughter trying to get sober with the reluctant help of her mother. “Somehow You Do” marks Warren’s fifth consecutive nomination for Best Original Song and 13th overall — she has yet to win.

Dressed in a black Dolce & Gabbana dress, McEntire delivered the song with signature poise while an all-star band including Travis Barker on drums, Kevin Jonas on guitar, Sheila E on percussion, and Robert Randolph on pedal steel played behind her. “When you think that the mountain’s too high/and the ocean’s too wide, you’ll never get through,” she sang, “somehow you do.”

The performance of “Somehow You Do” is the second time McEntire has sung at the Oscars. In March 1991 — just days after a plane crash killed eight members of the country singer’s band and crew — she performed Shel Silverstein’s “I’m Checkin’ Out” from the movie Postcards From the Edge. (Meryl Streep sang the song in the film.)

Along with “Somehow You Do,” the other nominated songs at the 94th Academy Awards include Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” from the James Bond film of the same name and Beyoncé’s “Be Alive,” from King Richard. Beyoncé opened the broadcast with an elaborate performance of the song from a tennis court in Compton.