Year in Review: So, How Was Your 2020, Anita ‘Lady A’ White?

So, How Was Your 2020? is a series in which our favorite entertainers answer our questionnaire about the music, culture and memorable moments that shaped their year. We’ll be rolling these pieces out throughout December. 

Anita “Lady A” White had a complex 2020. Beyond her quarantine, the Seattle Blues singer has spent much of the latter half of her year fighting over the rights to the “Lady A” stage name she’s used for nearly 30 years. As protests surfaced across the country over racial injustice highlighted by the police killing of George Floyd, Country trio Lady A, formally known as Lady Antebellum, changed their name over the former name’s reference to an era of the American South defined by slavery. In the process, they unknowingly took the name from a black musician who says their actions will erase her.  

Negotiations to find an amicable solution quickly fell apart, and in July, the band sued White to try and solidify their legal claim to the name. White responded with a countersuit of her own two months later. Those legal cases are ongoing. Since the suits, she released a new single in December, titled “My Name is All I Got.” The singer shares the music, TV and films that got her through her year, and what she hopes for a better 2021.

The album I listened to the most in 2020 was: 
Fred Hammond – No Weapon Formed Against Me

My favorite TV show to stream during quarantine was:
Schitts Creek.

The song that will define “2020” for me is:  
“The Truth is Loud” – Lady A

I’d define my current state of mind as: 
Finding peace.

The viral video I kept coming back to in quarantine was:  
Gregory Porter –  Musical Genocide Live.

The old-favorite album I returned to for comfort this year was:  
Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On.

The old-favorite movie I returned to for comfort this year was:  
Idlewild and Casablanca

A new hobby I picked up in quarantine was:  
Still learning how to operate my own home studio.

The celebrity I’d most want to quarantine with is: 
Bobby Rush

The most interesting thing I learned to cook during quarantine was: 
A lot of baked items (chicken, fish, brussel sprouts)  cuz Covid-behind is Real! LOL

The best book I read in quarantine was: 
The Bible.

Something positive that happened to me that nobody noticed was:  
I’m able to write more songs behind the scenes.

The mistake I learned the most from this year was:  
To learn to go with my first instinct.

The biggest hero of 2020 was: 
Darnella Frazier – the woman who filmed George Floyd’s killing.

A word or phrase I never want to hear again is: 
Co-Existence.

The thing I’m least looking forward to in 2021 is: 
The actual number of lives the Covid disease has taken.

The thing I’m most looking forward to doing when the pandemic is over is:  
Being able to help those in need up close and personal.

My biggest hope for 2021 is:
We all be kinder, more giving, more understanding and more loving as human beings to one another.