For those who thought Carrie Underwood didn’t have it in her, she just proved you wrong. Carrie Underwood not only shone next to Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, she also gave him a run for his money. Not only was the CMT Crossroads featuring both stars spectacular, it was also very rocking.
Prior to the show, Steven Tyler had said Carrie Underwood was the reason he joined the American Idol judging panel:
“You were why I took judging for ‘Idol,’ you are exactly why. Not only could you sing good, but you adapted to this…it’s a pit! It’s a deep, dark, ominous pit. And you get out there on-stage at night with that band, that great band you’ve got and you make people feel happy, first and foremost. All the rest, if people knew what we went through to get out on that stage… you have gotten past that and not a lot of people do – they have to get through drugs and alcohol, booze and divorces and even those didn’t make it. You were a natural at it.”
Carrie, in her turn, replied that Tyler was one of her inspirations growing up:
“I remember as a very small child, I could pick your voice out. Even then, you know that it’s different, you know that it’s special and can pick it out from a million other voices. You were definitely part of what gave me that musical, laid-back, in-the-pocket sensibility on albums and stuff like that.”
As she had hinted before, Carrie Underwood wasn’t misleading her fans. Her first single off her upcoming album is indeed titled: “Good Girl,” as Carrie announced via a video shared exclusively with members of her fan club.
Good Girl is one of the titles included in the list of songs I had posted before that Carrie had co-wrote for the 4th album. You can check the full list here. The song was written by Carrie Underwood, Ashley Gorley and Chris DeStefano. Previous hits of the former include Carrie Underwood’s own “All-American Girl” and the latter has cuts such as “Let Me Down” on Kelly Clarkson’s newest album, Stronger.
I’m personally not a big fan of the title. However, after Carrie’s own comments regarding the material on this album being darker, edgier and among the best she’s ever written, I don’t think the single will disappoint. I think the title will most probably be wordplay à la “Crazy Girl” by Ely Young Band: “Crazy girl, don’t you know that I love you… I love you like crazy, girl.” Although I do expect Carrie’s material to be much more interesting than that. Her enthusiasm about the song is enough to signal so.
I do, however, love the single cover:
Yup, Carrie Underwood’s a “good girl” and she’s flaunting it.
Here’s the online confirmation:
And the video from the Fan Club:
The song will be sent for adds on Country radio on February 23rd. And according to this description by Country Music is Love, the song is “pretty rocking.”
Or you can read Carrie’s own words about it:
“We went into the writing session thinking we need to write something that just kicks butt, and Chris DeStefano, one of the writers is — I call him a little mad scientist on all of his Pro Tools stuff — he, like, plays every instrument you could possibly think of, and he, like, started makin’ this track, and we started…we just went. It was fast. We wrote it fast, and it’s just fun! It’s upbeat, it’s fun, you stomp your feet, and you can dance to it. It’s got this really rockin’ verse, and this really, like, rockin’ country chorus. So, it’s just a really cool song.”
Taylor Swift’s follow up to her #1 country hit, Sparks Fly (check my review) is a song off the deluxe version of her album, Speak Now, titled Ours.
“Elevator buttons and morning air,” she sings sweetly as the song opens up. “Strangers’ silence makes me wanna take the stairs. If you were here, we’d laugh about their vacant stares but right now, my time is theirs. Seems like there’s always someone who disapproves. They’ll judge it like they know about me and you. And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do. The jury’s out but my choice is you.”
Then she breaks into the chorus, the background of which is a happy melody that goes well in hand with the lyrics she’s painting: “So don’t you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine and life makes love look hard. The stakes are high, the water’s rough but this love is ours.”
Ours‘ highlight comes in the form of the song’s bridge, which is sort of typical for Taylor’s songs – she leaves her best songwriting skills to that part of the song: “And it’s not theirs to speculate if it’s wrong and your hands are tough but they are where mine belong and I’ll fight their doubt and give you faith with this song for you. Cause I love the gap between your teeth and I love the riddles that you speak. And any snide remarks from my father about your tattoos will be ignored, cause my heart is yours.”
Ours has an infectious happy melody that, like many of Taylor’s uptempo songs and whether you like them or not, you’ll find stuck in your head. You may not like the song and you may switch the channel if it comes on the radio but after random repeated plays, you’ll find that you actually know the melody to it. It’s a simple tune, it’s a happy tune. It’s a tune very easy to memorize.
Many have spoken highly of Taylor’s songwriting skills on Ours. And well, Taylor Swift is a great songwriter in her own merit. She manages to turn a subject, which most other songwriters would turn into a cliche-ridden song, into something fun, breezy and happy. Even her vocal delivery, which many people say is subpar, works for this song because it’s the type of songs that actually sounds better not sung perfectly. The little mistakes here and there, the laughs spread throughout help Ours have soul. In fact, Ours mostly works because Taylor’s singing it. Had any other artist taken on this song, it would have sounded like a big mess of sappy lyrics and forcibly uptempo melody. Ours is as it is because of Swift’s delivery.
So for all matters and purposes, Ours is a fine song. It’s definitely not the best Taylor has written and it’s definitely not the best choice for a single off an album that has songs like “Enchanted” still left on its track list. Ours lacks the freshness that was in Mean and it lacks the immediate hit that was Sparks Fly. But it’s Taylor Swift so of course it won’t fizzle away and die on country radio like the songs of almost every other female country artist (with the exception of Carrie Underwood).
Perhaps after having a good radio streak, Taylor Swift should have went for broke and released the best song on “Speak Now,” this little song titled Enchanted which no one cannot like. I find it weird that they had to revert to a bonus track on the deluxe edition of the album, which until recently wasn’t even available everywhere in the US. And the sad thing is, Ours isn’t even the best bonus track.
It’s been a while since I wrote anything Carrie Underwood related, hasn’t it? Well no matter.
My Carrie Underwood dry streak is officially over with this. And if you’re anything like me, you’re obviously obsessing in any spare time you have about her upcoming album. So I figured I’d do a quick round-up of the possible song titles we have and what Carrie has said about the album.
So without further ado…
Registered Songs:
This is a list of all Carrie co-writes so far for this era. Many of these songs will not make the album. For reference, David Hodges has co-written What Can I Say on Carrie’s third album. Hillary Lindsey and Luke Laird have co-written many of Carrie’s biggest hits such as Jesus Take The Wheel, Temporary Home, Someday When I Stop Loving You. Mike Elizondo is responsible for the song that is Cowboy Casanova. Kara DioGuardi, former American Idol judge, along with Marti Frederiksen have written with Carrie the songs Undo It and Mama’s Song. Kelley Lovelace has written many of Brad Paisley’s biggest hits such as Whiskey Lullaby and Remind Me (his duet with Carrie). And finally, Ryan Tedder is One Republic’s frontman and has written songs like Beyonce’s Halo and Kelly Clarkson’s Already Gone.
– “I’m so excited about it because I honestly think these are the best batch of songs and this is gonna be the best album. I’ve always been reluctant to say that before I guess because I don’t know, maybe I was waiting for something super super special, and I feel like I’ve got it. So meanwhile, a new tour, which we will be putting together really soon, and I’m just really excited. We’re gonna surprise ourselves I think.” (source).
– “I’ve got an amazing 2012 planned for you guys. We’re going to have so much fun!” – Acceptance speech at this year’s ACA awards.
– It’s more on the upbeat side. In fact, she usually has a hard time finding the more uptempo songs. This time, it’s the opposite.
Other Info:
– Expect a beginning of 2012 release of the album, possible first single to be released in early January.
It seems that the radio run of Remind Me, the #1 country smash, is not over by it reaching the penthouse of the country charts on the September 10th issue.
Arista, the label behind country music’s biggest stars Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, who delivered this stunning duet to the masses on Paisley’s latest album, This Is Country Music, is releasing the song to US radio outside the country genre.
On November 14th (one day after my birthday so I’ll take this is a belated gift), radios that play Hot Adult Contemporary and Adult Contemporary music (ie: music by artists like P!nk, Kelly Clarkson, Adele, Daughtry, Lady Antebellum, Maroon 5, etc…) are invited to add this song to their playlists, after being remixed to suit their sound.
Hot AC success for country songs is seen by many as a gateway for entry to pop radio, which is becoming more and more receptive to country songs without remixes, as shown by Taylor Swift’s “Back To December” and Lady Antebellum’s “Just A Kiss,” currently at #25.
In other news, Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley co-hosted the CMA awards for their fourth consecutive time yesterday, opening hilariously with a sketch that played on Hank Williams Jr.’s slur of Obama being like Hitler and Kim Kardashian’s 72 day marriage.
Carrie and Brad also performed “Remind Me” to a standing ovation.
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares 