"Whatever You Say" is a song written by

Ed Hill Edward Monroe Hill (born in Hanford, California) is an American country music songwriter. Hill has been active since the early 1970s. Hill plays piano and keyboard and has backed Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson.

and Tony Martin and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Martina McBride Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter and record producer. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material. McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relocat ...

. It was released in February 1999 as the fifth and final single from McBride’s album ''

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

.'' The song peaked at number 2 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

and at number 37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also peaked at number 6 on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' chart.

Background

"Whatever You Say" is a slow contemporary-styled ballad, which was the theme of McBride's album that this song was released on.

Content

The song discusses how a woman finds herself in a confusing relationship with a man. The female character argues how her lover believes that she is always making a big deal out of nothing important. She believes that whatever her lover says depends on whether or not she stays in the relationship.

Sara Evans Sara Lynn Evans (; born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is also credited as a record producer, actress, and author. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the '' Billboard'' country songs ch ...

and

Neil Thrasher Joe Neil Thrasher Jr. (born July 13, 1965) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1995 and 1997, he and Kelly Shiver comprised the duo Thrasher Shiver, which recorded a studio album for Asylum Records in 1996 and charted two ...

sing

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

Chart performance

"Whatever You Say" was issued as the fifth and final single from Martina McBride's fourth album, ''

,'' which was a multi-platinum success. The song was released as a single to country radio in early 1999, peaking at number 2 on the

chart and number 37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming one of two singles spawned from the album that reached number 2 ("

Happy Girl "Happy Girl" is a song written by Beth Nielsen Chapman and Annie Roboff, and recorded by American country music singer Martina McBride. It was released in April 1998 as the third single from McBride’s album ''Evolution''. It reached a peak of #2 ...

" was the first). The song also reached a peak of number 6 on the Canadian ''

'' chart that same year, becoming her sixth Top 10 on that chart.

Year-end charts

Parodies

* American country music parody artist

Cledus T. Judd James Barry Poole (born December 18, 1964) is an American country music artist who records under the name Cledus T. Judd. Known primarily for his parodies of popular country songs, he has been called the "Weird Al" Yankovic of country music, and ...

released a parody of "Whatever You Say" titled "What the *$@# Did You Say".

References

{{Martina McBride singles 1999 singles 1997 songs Martina McBride songs Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions Songs written by Tony Martin (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Paul Worley RCA Records Nashville singles Songs written by Ed Hill