Tag Archives: Carrie Underwood

The Westboro Baptist Church – America’s Main Hate Group: A Dark Mark on Christianity

Westboro Baptist Church

You’d think that in 2012, a group that champions itself to be a church would also champion acceptance and forgiveness. That might be true to most denominations of Christianity today – except the Westboro Baptist Church.

Do you know why, according to WBC, the children in Connecticut got murdered by Adam Lanza? Do you know what’s their theory behind Victoria Soto protecting her entire first grade class as she lost her life execution-style?

It’s because of Carrie Underwood supporting same-sex marriage.

Yes, you read that right. Underwood who declared her support for marriage equality earlier in 2012 has brought the wrath of God upon this small town in Connecticut. “She pimped fag marriage. Blood of dead school kids on her hands!” WBC spokesperson tweeted to Underwood who at her concert of the night of the shooting held a moment of silence to commemorate the victims. You could’ve heard a pin drop in a crowd of 10,000 people. She also gave all proceedings of that night’s concert to charity.

It doesn’t stop there. The Westboro Baptist Church likes to crash funerals of American soldiers who died for their country, which is unacceptable regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum regarding the military practices of the United States. They are also preparing for protests at the funeral of the children who were shot in Sandy Hook Elementary. They’re set to ruin the last memory of these children by linking their untimely death to some crazy reason of their choice. If there was ever a time for guns, it would be that. If I were a parent at that funeral, I’d have my gun ready. Just in case.

Westboro Baptist Church - 2

American students forming a human barricade against the WBC at a soldier's funeral.

American students forming a human barricade against the WBC at a soldier’s funeral.

The Westboro Baptist Church which spreads its venomous message to whoever would listen are media whores. They jump on anything that receives national media attention in order to spread out their message. Their protests have also been deemed legal by the US Supreme Court.

With them gaining traction, some sane Americans decided they won’t have it anymore. A petition was started online to officially recognize this church as a hate group which would remove their tax-exempt status and hopefully slowly lead them to their extinction. The petition gained over 50,000 signatures in only a few hours. You can sign it here. As a person who will be doing his medical residency program in the United States in a couple of years, I wouldn’t want to come across these people in any way whatsoever. I have, therefore, signed it.

What the Westboro *so called Baptist* Church seems to entirely miss is the fact that everything they do contradicts the teachings of their supposed savior Jesus Christ whose message about love and acceptance, even if you don’t believe in religion, is one that people should follow in their every day lives. This “Church’s” actions are nothing short of hate and bigotry. What they do is so nauseatingly bad that they’ve become a massive dark mark on Christianity in the United States and the world.

There’s a way to be against same-sex marriage. There’s a way to be against abortion. There’s a way to be against the mainstream media. And that way isn’t Westboro’s way.

I know firsthand that being a Christian person doesn’t mean being like them. But if being Christian means I’d be associated with those people in any way whatsoever, I’m tempted I’ll have to reconsider. Oh men of weak faith. But I’d rather they leave my religion because they’re the ones tarnishing it with every word they speak, with every “God hates the soldiers” poster they hold at one of those soldiers’ funerals and with every moment they exist.

If the Westboro Baptist Church had been a group in the Middle East, rest assured the United States would have bombed the hell out of the country in which they resided. It’s high time the American government take a stance against those so obviously practicing mental and cultural terrorism on its land.

Talking about them might give them exposure – but I think we need to talk about them now in order to stop them once and for all. Jesus to Westboro Baptist Church: I do not approve of you. Sign the petition.

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Two Black Cadillacs (Single Review) – Carrie Underwood

 

Carrie Underwood’s new single, off her platinum selling album Blown Away and as a follow up to one of 2012′s biggest country hits Blown Away, is Two Black Cadillacs, a song which sets an ominous tone the moment the first note strikes.

Two black Cadillacs driving in a slow parade. Headlights shining bright in the middle of the day. One’s for his wife, the other for the woman who loved him at night, Underwood sings as a dramatic melody plays in the background. She immediately throws us into the setting of a funeral where a preacher man is saying the man being buried was a good man and his brother says he was a good friend.

But the two women in the black veils have a secret to hide. The story could very well serve to make a movie drama and Underwood delivers it effortlessly in a few minutes.

Two months ago his wife found the number on his phone, turns out he’d been lying to both of them for far too long. They decided then he’d never get away with doing this to them, Underwood lets the plot thicken. The women, taking turns in lying a rose down on the coffin and throwing dirt into the deep ground, also have a secret to hide. So they share a crimson smile and leave their secret with the man they killed, at the grave, to die with them.

Two Black Cadillacs is a hauntingly dark song by Underwood that serves as a one-two punch by the country star as she delivers her album’s most critically acclaimed tracks as back to back singles. The darkness with which her tone delivers this song would make you think she’s lived these events herself but it’s only telling of the caliber that Underwood has turned into as a performer. As she sings “bye bye” to signal the women biding farewell to the man who betrayed them both, you can feel her voice pierce through.

Two Black Cadillacs is a song where the musicians playing couldn’t stop after it was done so they kept playing and playing. Part of them jamming is found on the album track and will probably be cut with the radio edit. The song goes fifty shades deep and is Underwood’s darkest and most thought-provoking single release to date. From the haunting thumping melody that is reminiscent of a funeral march to the rich and multi-layered storytelling lyrics, Carrie Underwood delivers. Releasing a “softer” song may have been a safer bet. But Underwood is here to let her detractors know that Blown Away was just a storm warning. Bye bye, bye bye. 

A.

Can’t Stop Loving You – Aerosmith & Carrie Underwood

Rock band Aerosmith have released their first single off their upcoming album, Music From Another Dimension, and it’s a country-influenced track with Carrie Underwood on the track.

[Tyler:]

I fell from Holy Moses Mountain
Where love’s a slippery slope
And all the others I’ve been hangin’ with
Never gave me too much rope
Then one day she came to me

Love at first sight head to toes

I love her wild, a mountain child

And let me tell ya how she goes

And here she climbs

And I can’t stop loving you
Cause it’s all I wanna do
Yeah the world needs more of this
Tell me what you put into that kiss
Now keep it comin’ on
Let me hear my favorite song
Yeah you’re all I wanna do
Cause I can’t stop loving you

[Underwood:]
Got me a good old timey cowboy
He got my picture on his fridge
And the first time that he kissed me
We was high up on the ridge
And then we came down from that mountain
On a ride with mama kin
And for all it costs for getting lost
There ain’t no better sin
Here we go again

You know I can’t stop loving you
Cause it’s all I wanna do
Yeah the world needs more of this
Tell me what you put into that kiss
Now keep it comin’ on
Let me hear my favorite song
Yeah you’re all I wanna do
Cause I can’t stop loving you

[Underwood + Tyler]
When I wake up and see your face
All wrapped up in that pretty lace
In fact there’s nowhere else I would rather be
Than all tied up in this rhapsody in blue

Hey, I can’t stop loving you
Cause it’s all I wanna do
Yeah the world needs more of this
Tell me what you put into that kiss
Now keep it comin’ on
Let me hear my favorite song
Yeah you’re all I wanna do
Cause I can’t stop loving you

Quick review: Not a bad song. Carrie Underwood sounds quite sultry on it, which is a departure of what she usually delivers. The country influence can be easily heard, which makes this song countrier than the current Billboard Hot country song. The rock style of it i also not very current, with prominent 80′s rock influence. Fans of both artists will like it as it’s not a drastic departure from the sound that they both usually offer.

7/10

Blown Away (Music Video) – Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood has released the music video for her second single (review) off her album of the same title (review): Blown Away.

After a few months of waiting and increasing hype, which culminated in a competition for radio stations for the right to hold a premiere for the music video, the video is finally here.

A few comments:

  • The video is very well done. The build up is intense albeit the ending was a bit disappointing and too colorful for my taste. A shot of the destroyed house to the backdrop of retreating storm clouds would have been more dramatic than the current way the video ends.
  • The Wizard of Oz inferences are present throughout: be it the yellow brick road, the tornado, plaid shirt, red shoes, scarecrow in the cellar and Carrie’s own puppy as Todo.
  • The relationship with the dad could have been illustrated a notch more. Instead of a history homework problem at the beginning, why couldn’t they take it to where the song clearly says the relationship is? The father looks like a drunk in the video – not an abusive father. You need to make that jump through the song but the video could have easily illustrated that.
  • There were small hints throughout the video that tie in very well with the song such as the main character touching a grave and walking through a cemetery around the lines “mama was an angel in the ground.”

Overall, one of Carrie’s best. Some of the comments above are merely being nitpicky about the video. But it’s truly, really, well-done.

Carrie Underwood Covers INXS’ “Never Tear Us Apart” at Australian Concert

I admit I had never heard this song before but I think it’s great. And she delivers a pretty good cover of it as well.

This was part of a string of Australian concerts. She had covered Coldplay’s “Fix You” at her Royal Albert Hall concert in London.

Underwood did the song justice and proved yet again exactly how versatile a singer she is.

Carrie Underwood Covers “Fix You” by Coldplay at Royal Albert Hall Concert

Proving yet again that she can deliver songs better than their original performer, Carrie Underwood took on one of Coldplay’s most famous songs “Fix You” at her UK debut concert at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Adele released a DVD late last year of her concert at the same venue.

Reporters and UK personalities present at the concert were gushing over Underwood’s vocals.

Some examples:

Dan Wooton from The Daily Mail tweeted the following:

@carrieunderwood That was one of the best performances I have ever seen. Thank you for a very special night x

ChartShowTV: Wow! @carrieunderwood was too good tonight in London! Her version of Coldplay’s Fix You was stunning!

And so I don’t bore you, here you go:

Blown Away (Single Review) – Carrie Underwood

Dry lightning cracks across the sky, those storm clouds gather in her eyes. Daddy was a mean old mister, mama was an angel in the ground. The weatherman called for a twister. She prayed blow it down.

To an incessant heartbeat-like drum, Carrie Underwood’s newest single opens. Blown Away, the second single off the album of the same title, is the darkest song on the album in question and a drastic departure from anything Underwood had given before, be it musically or lyrically.

As Carrie Underwood’s voice breaks in a delivery echoing the character’s need for peace, the song shifts into an ethereal production where Underwood goes into a multi-layered lower register to sing the song’s most haunting line, which confirms what the opening verse makes you think of.

There’s not enough rain in Oklahoma to wash the sins out of that house. There’s not enough wind in Oklahoma to wash the sins out of that past.

Carrie Underwood may have not been the victim of abuse but she sings Blown Away with so much conviction that it’s hard to think her life wasn’t the struggle she portrays. As she feigns power to sing the song’s chorus, you can’t but hear a faint cry in her voice as she pleads to have her problems blown away by the impeding twister.

Shatter every window till it’s all blown away. Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away. Till there’s nothing left standing, nothing left to yesterday. Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away, blown away.

As the tornado nears her house, the character in Underwood’s song hides away in the cellar of the house, leaving her “daddy laid there passed on the couch.” As she listened to the screaming of the wind, the song exemplifies the amount of hurt the girl has been put through in her life.

Some people called it taking shelter. She called it sweet revenge.

As Underwood shifts between impeccable falsettos and power-singing in her delivery, she delivers an excellent song that is unlike anything else on any form of mainstream radio today. Carrie Underwood is not only singing about whiskey-soaked abuse memories, she’s also telling the story of a daughter leaving her father’s breathing body to the mercy of a wind that knows no mercy, all to a chilling production.

The country-pop production is another instance in which Underwood pushes the envelope further for country radio after a country-rock first single in Good Girl. In Blown Away, the dramatic production proves necessary to bring full effect to a song that desperately cried for such an epic dramatic feel, be it on the thundery chorus or the chilling pre-chorus.

Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear, the creators of Underwood’s biggest hit Before He Cheats, have given her the song that might just rival that. Some country audiences will be rubbed the wrong way with the theme of this song but with something this incredible, Underwood shouldn’t care the least. In fact, she should be proud pf that because it’ll be the mark of how great a song this is. With Blown Away, Carrie Underwood has yet again thrown caution to the wind and let her guards get blown away.

Blown Away is a song you can’t resist getting blown away with.

10/10

Listen to the song here:

And watch a sneak-peek into the music video here:

A Comment on Carrie Underwood Endorsing Gay Marriage & the Backlash

The following is a guest post by an American reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

Country superstar Carrie Underwood has gone 180 degrees against the Country current by endorsing gay marriage. In an interview with The Independent UK, she had the following to say on the matter:

“As a married person myself, I don’t know what it’s like to be told I can’t marry somebody I love, and want to marry,” she said. “I can’t imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love.”

“Our church is gay friendly. Above all, God wanted us to love others. It’s not about setting rules, or [saying] ‘everyone has to be like me’. No. We’re all different. That’s what makes us special. We have to love each other and get on with each other. It’s not up to me to judge anybody.”

I am not pro-gay marriage. Not for religious reasons but for reasons I will talk about later on.

The responses her endorsment has been getting are mixed between those who approve based on liberal ideologies and those who disapprove based on a twisted understanding of the bible.

The infamous verse that is quoted nowadays is Leviticus 18:22: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Bible-nazis are taking this sentence and flaunting it around. If you don’t follow it, then you are not a proper Christian.

Well, I’ve got a few words for them. And what better words than from the Bible itself.

Exodus 21:7:  ”If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do.” Would those Bible-loving men and women sell their daughters as servants? I don’t think so. That’s one thing of the Bible they wouldn’t abide with.

Leviticus 25:44: “Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.” According to another Leviticus passage, I’m allowed to have slaves provided they are from neighboring countries. Does that mean illegal Mexican immigrants are our slaves now? The Bible says so. It must be. No?

Leviticus 11:10: “And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you.” The Bible forbids me from eating things coming out of the Sea. But I’m a seafood lover. Do you eat seafood? If you do, then you must stop. Immediately. The Bible demands it.

Leviticus 19:27: ”Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” This states that men are not allowed to cut their hair nor shave. Do you cut your hair?

Leviticus 19:19: “Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.” To the awesome Americans of the Bible-belt, many of you have farms, right? Do you have different types of animals in your farms? Do you grow different crops? Because if you do, then you are committing blasphemy, in which case Leviticus would also demand that the entirety of your town comes forward to stone you.

The thing about Leviticus, my fellow Christians, is that it is part of the old testament and it is what Jesus Christ came to Earth to change. The thing about Leviticus, my fellow Christians, is that the only part of it that you know is the part pertaining to homosexuality.

When it comes to my Christianity, it’s about the message Jesus wanted to bring forward: a message of love.

Jesus Christ forgave those that were killing Him before he died on the Cross. Leviticus would call upon those people to be stoned and burned. Jesus Christ called on those without a sin to cast the first stone. Jesus knew that none of us is without sin. Jesus knew that when it comes to life, compassion is the most important emotion to get us by. Compassion makes everything else seem so small.

So next time you want to quote the Bible to prove a point, make sure you quote the part that makes you a Christian today: the New Testament, whose pages are all about the redemptive power of love.

When it comes to me, I’m not pro-gay marriage but that doesn’t mean I’m against those who are homosexual. How’s that? As I look around, I see families crumbling around me. The concept of a family sticking together like my grandparents did, for more than fifty years, is becoming more and more nonexistent. My parents got divorced when I was ten. My cousins’ parents divorced when she was twelve.

Out of my high school friends, at least half of them came from houses where they were raised by a single parent – and not because “death did them part.”

With crumbling family values and surging divorce rates, I don’t approve of adding another portion of society to the whole mess of marriage because, like it or not, homosexuals feel the way we do and they change their mind. And because the notion of marital love fades away after the initial infatuation and many are left wondering: Is this really what I signed up for?

Moreover, you don’t want the kids gay couples will adopt to be more disoriented than those of heterosexuals couples as well in case of a divorce.

And as a cherry on top, I think there are way more important issues that are worth the discussion today than this. Just a quick question to illustrate this point: how would any married couple, regardless of what that couple is, have an optimal marriage in the horrid economy we live in?

When it comes to Carrie Underwood’s comment, I am neutral. I like what she said because it doesn’t seem forced. She’s not telling people what to believe like many other celebrities do. She’s stating her belief. On the other hand, in a time when much more serious things are happening around the world than accepting gay marriage or not, I think other stances precede this in importance. And for an artist who had publicized her refusal to comment on anything of a political nature, regardless of how she spins it, I wonder what changed her mind.

There will be backlash. It has already started. It won’t be pretty. But kudos for Carrie for saying what she believes in, despite it coming out of the blue.

To conclude, here’s a quote for you all:

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” – Mahatma Ghandi.

You have your Christianity and I have mine.

Teaser from Carrie Underwood’s Blown Away Music Video

This was leaked from the fan club party that went on at the Opry in Nashville, a 13 second teaser from the upcoming music video by Carrie Underwood for her song: Blown Away, which I correctly predicted would be the second single off the album of the same title.

The storyline of the video looks like it’ll be what was leaked a couple of days ago:

The video opens with heavy rains. People in town running with newspapers over their heads to their cars, a lady’s umbrella gets turned inside out. The camera is zipping to different parts of the city showing people trying to deal with the storm.

The camera then zooms out of the city down a road to a big farm. It isn’t raining there, but you can see the lightning clouds coming towards the house.

The first verse starts and the camera zooms into the house. There’s an old man laying on the couch, passed out as if he were watching TV. The emergency weather service is is on the TV. Between the TV and the couch stands Carrie. Holding a picture frame and flashlight. When Carrie sings “those storms clouds gather in her eyes,” the camera zooms into her face and her eyes are watering, but she’s not crying. She shakes her head in a disgusted way, looks away from him. At the line “the weatherman called for a twister,” she shuts the TV off and walks away.

The camera goes out to the street and you see the band playing and Carrie is singing “there’s not enough rain in Oklahoma…” It goes back and forth between this and the Carrie in the house collecting all of the pictures off the walls and scrapbooks. You can see the dad still passed out on the couch and the girl walks up the stairs to her room.

When the chorus starts, the camera is switching between Carrie with her band outside (the winds have picked up a bit at this point) and Carrie in her room tearing it to pieces. She’s tearing up pictures of her dad, throwing her clothes, etc.

When the chorus ends and Carrie hits the high “Blown Away” note, the clouds are now really dark, her hair is blowing wildly and a single lightning bolt strikes near the band, tearing the ground up.

As the second verse starts, it zooms back into the girl’s room. As soon as she starts crying, it starts raining lightly outside on Carrie and the band. The winds are still blowing. It starts showing people around the neighborhood running into their cellars, gathering their kids and just kind of panicking. Carrie (the inside one) sees her father still sleep on the couch. She picks up her whiskey bottle and takes a big drink of it and wipes her mouth.

When the second chorus starts, it’s really raining hard and lightning striking everywhere and for the rest of the video, it zooms between the storm progressing, eventually with a tornado touching down right behind the band and ripping up the house and the inside Carrie who is sitting in a chair in the basement with the light right above dangling and swaying as if the house was moving. There are lots of shots of the house be ripped apart by this storm, with pictures flying everywhere etc.

At the end of the song, Carrie emerges from the basement and the entire house is gone, except for an empty couch.

Sounds great, no? Here’s the teaser for you: