[Image credit: American Idol]
Ché performs “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” by James Brown, American Idol 2025 Season 23 Top 14. Startattle.com – American Idol.
Contestant: Ché (28 years old), Singer from Essex, England
Round: Top 14
Song: “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” by James Brown
Result: Advanced
Ché American Idol Top 14
A Show-Stopping Moment: Ché Sings “It’s A Man’s World” | American Idol.
Ché “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” American Idol
“It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” is a song written by James Brown and Betty Jean Newsome. Brown recorded it on February 16, 1966, in a New York City studio and released it as a single later that year. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Its title is a word play on the 1963 comedy film It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
The song is written in the key of E-flat minor. The lyrics, which Rolling Stone characterized as “biblically chauvinistic”, attribute all the works of modern civilization (the car, the train, the boat (“Like Noah made the ark”), and the electric light) to the efforts of men, but claim that it all would “mean nothing without a woman or a girl”. The song also states that man made toys for the baby boys and girls, and comments about the fact that “Man makes money” to buy from other men. Before the song’s fade, Brown states that man is lost in his bitterness and in the wilderness. Brown’s co-writer and onetime girlfriend, Betty Jean Newsome, wrote the lyrics based on her own observations of the relations between the sexes. Newsome claimed in later years that Brown did not write any part of the song, and she argued in court that he sometimes forgot to pay her royalties. In May 1966, Record World magazine reported that Brown, King Records and Dynatone Publishing were being sued by Clamike Records for alleged copyright infringement of the Betty Newsome song “It’s a Man’s World (But What Would He Do Without a Woman)”.
The composition of “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” developed over a period of several years. Tammy Montgomery, better known as Tammi Terrell, recorded “I Cried”, a Brown-penned song based on the same chord changes, in 1963. Brown himself recorded a demo version of the song, provisionally entitled “It’s a Man’s World”, in 1964. This version later appeared on the CD compilations The CD of JB and Star Time. Les Buie (guitar) and Bernard Odum (bass) performed on the 1964 song.
The released version of “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” was recorded quickly, in only two takes, with a studio ensemble that included members of Brown’s touring band and a string section arranged and conducted by Sammy Lowe. A female chorus was involved in the recording sessions, but their parts were edited out of the song’s final master.
“It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” became a staple of Brown’s live shows for the rest of his career. Its slow, simmering groove and declamatory vocal line made it suitable for long, open-ended performances incorporating spoken ruminations on love and loss and sometimes interpolations from other songs. It appears on almost all of Brown’s live albums starting with 1967’s Live at the Garden. Brown also recorded a big band jazz arrangement of the song with the Louie Bellson Orchestra for his 1970 album Soul on Top.
Cash Box described the song as a “slow-shufflin’ emotion-charged item which points out that men are quite incomplete without women to love ’em.”
In 2004, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” was ranked number 123 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
In 2010, the 1966 recording of the song by James Brown on King Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Show: American Idol
Season: American Idol 2025 (Season 23)
Host: Ryan Seacrest
Judges: Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie
The twenty-third season of American Idol premiered on March 2, 2025, on the ABC television network. Ryan Seacrest returned as host; Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie returned as judges, along with season four winner Carrie Underwood replacing Katy Perry as a judge.
Watch Ché American Idol 2025 “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” James Brown, Season 23 Top 14, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie. Ché “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” American Idol. Ché American Idol Top 14. Ché “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” American Idol 2025.
Also, check these topics out: The Voice winner 2021, AGT winner Season 17, Slater Nalley Your Song American Idol 2025, American Idol winner 2022, Josh King American Idol Top 14, Thunderstorm Artis Fire and Rain American Idol, Kolbi Jordan You’re All I Need to Get By American Idol 2025, Gabby Samone Saving All My Love for You American Idol 2025. Ché American Idol 2025 “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” James Brown, Season 23 Top 14. Ché American Idol 2025 “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” James Brown, Season 23 Top 14, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie.
