5 Surprising Revelations From Jennifer Nettles on ‘Watch What Happens Live’
From Sugarland breakup rumors to Taylor Swift’s country ditch and Blake Shelton’s ego, no topic was off limits when Jennifer Nettles appeared on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live! Thursday night. The singer, who released her solo album, That Girl, last year, joined Scandal star Tony Goldwyn on the couch opposite show host Andy Cohen for a half-hour of a lot of laughter. The three engaged not only in conversation but also in competition, as Cohen tested Nettles’ mettle when it came to making up song lyrics on the spot. Here’s what perked our ears from the interview, games and viewer call-in questions.
- Song lyrics should not be rushed.
Nettles revealed that she once penned a tune for her toddler son, Magnus, on the subject of “pooping,” so Cohen challenged her to a game called “Very First Country Song.” The host gave his guest the subjects, which all had to do with potential future events in her son’s life, and she had to come up with lyrics on the fly. “Any song I write for him is pretty much to the tune of ‘Froggy Went a-Courtin’,” Nettles said before the first challenge, which was to write a song about the first time Magnus gets dumped. “There’re a lot of other girls who are cuter and smarter,” she sang. “Tomorrow, I’m going to let you meet Blue Carter” (the daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who, like Magnus, was born in 2012). The next subject, a song about what to do if her son got into a fistfight on the playground, had Nettles singing, “I don’t like violence, you know this well, but if he was a bully I hope you rung his bell.”
2. Nettles and her Sugarland partner, Kristian Bush, do not hate each other. But they’re in no rush to reunite.
Although Nettles’ solo album is out and Bush’s Southern Gravity album release date and other details were revealed this week, the first question a viewer had for her was about a potential Sugarland reunion. “We’ve left it open-ended,” she answered. “You can’t put sort of a time constraint on creativity so we don’t know yet.” When Cohen joked that the pair hated each other, Nettles was quick to refute: “No, we don’t!”
3. Now that he’s played host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live, Blake Shelton is going to “get worse and worse.”
A caller wanted to know who the bigger diva in country music is: Blake Shelton or Brad Paisley. “I would have to say definitely Blake,” Nettles answered without hesitation. “Especially now that he’s been on SNL. I think it’s just going to get worse and worse.” Her little wink at the end should assure fans of both guys that she was only joking.
4. Country music still loves T-Swift.
“She’s gone pop, but the country community still embraces her, absolutely,” Nettles said when asked if Taylor Swift’s move to pop music had lost her the support of the tight-knit country community. “Look, she brought a lot of people to country music,” Nettles said, thoughtfully. “Yeah, the country community loves her.”
5. Lady Gaga taught her a thing or two.
Continuing the theme of musical divas, a caller wanted to know of three women she’s worked with, which surprised her the most: Beyoncé, Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. Nettles said that although Lady Gaga, with whom she sang a version of “You and I” at the Grammy nominations concert, didn’t really surprise her, she did learn things from her. “About makeup?” Cohen asked her. “About musicianship,” she corrected. “I knew that she was a musician, but she sat down at the piano and she was ready to go! I loved that. I appreciated that professionalism a lot. I didn’t know what to expect because she’s such a big, big character.”
Up next for Nettles is a major career milestone: She’ll play Roxie Hart in Broadway’s Chicago, February 2nd through March 29th. Watch her discuss tackling the iconic role on Watch What Happens Live here.