McBride released her debut studio album by RCA Records in 1992, titled ''[[The Time Has Come (Martina McBride album)|The Time Has Come]]''. It was produced by [[Paul Worley]] and Ed Seay. This album's [[The Time Has Come (Martina McBride song)|title track]] made it to number 23 on the country music charts, while the next two singles both failed to make the Top 40.<ref name="whitburn">{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008|publisher=Record Research, Inc|year=2008|pages=262–263|isbn=978-0-89820-177-2}}</ref> Unlike her later [[country pop]]-influenced albums, ''The Time Has Come'' featured [[honky tonk]] and [[country folk]] influences.<ref name="allmusic"/>
''[[The Way That I Am]]'' was McBride's second album. Its first two singles both brought her into the country top ten: "[[My Baby Loves Me (Just the Way That I Am)|My Baby Loves Me]]," the album's ''de facto'' title song, peaked at number two, and "[[Life Number 9|Life No. 9]]" peaked at number six. The former was previously a Top 10 hit in Canada for [[Patricia Conroy]]. TheHowever, it was the third single, "[[Independence Day (Martina McBride song)|Independence Day]]", which was prevented from reaching the Top 10 through the oppositions of many radio programmers, who objected to the song's subject of a mother fighting back against abuse by burning the family home to the ground.<ref name="book">{{cite book|last=Nash|first=Alanna|title=''Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America''|editor=Paul Kingsbury|publisher=Jonathan Metcalf|location=New York, NY, USA|page=343}}</ref> "Independence Day" won Video of the Year and Song of the Year at the [[Country Music Association]] Awards, and has since become McBride's signature song.<ref name="whitburn"/><ref name="cmt">{{cite web|url=http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/mcbride_martina/bio.jhtml|title=Martina McBride biography|publisher=[[CMT (American TV channel)|CMT]]|access-date=November 23, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222204741/http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/mcbride_martina/bio.jhtml|archive-date=December 22, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It also earned the song's composer, [[Gretchen Peters]], a nomination for the [[Grammy Award for Best Country Song]]. The song also gave McBride a nomination for the [[Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance]]. McBride performed the song at the 1995 Grammys ceremony. The fourth and fifth singles from ''The Way That I Am'' were less successful: "Heart Trouble" peaked at number 21, and "Where I Used to Have a Heart" fell short of the Top 40.<ref name="whitburn"/> McBride later criticized these single choices, saying that she felt "Strangers" would have been a better followup, as that song was more popular with fans and later appeared on her first greatest-hits album.<ref name="liner"/> ''The Way That I Am'' was certified platinum by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA).
"My Baby Loves Me (Just The Way That I Am)," as produced and released, proved to have a sing-along quality that led McBride to sing it that way in her subsequent concerts.
