Carrie Underwood | 4th Album Era | Part I

[Deleted]

Oct 24, 2011 22:08:29 GMT -5 Typo said:

Carrie responded to a question over at the FC regarding the upcoming album title.

There's nothing set in stone but she's got something in mind, it'll be 'short & sweet'.

Like her other 3 album titles?

I'll laugh if the actual title is Short & Sweet.

[Gravity.]

Clearly she's going to follow in Miranda and Beyonce's footsteps and name is something along the lines of Fourth.

[Typo]

I've had this gut feeling for the longest time that the Lori McKenna track Carrie cut was "Rocket Science" & I personally could see that making for a nice album title. Like the music could be Carrie's own little 'rocket science'. IDK, that's really just a complete shot-in-the-dark but it's something I've envisioned for awhile.

Or, drawing from what imafan mentioned on the previous page, maybe the album could be released during Carrie's birthday week and titled like Rebirth or something. It could be like the cuntry version of B'day. :'(

[carrieidol1]

Oct 24, 2011 22:10:10 GMT -5 @14887fan said:

Oct 24, 2011 22:08:29 GMT -5 Typo said:

Carrie responded to a question over at the FC regarding the upcoming album title.

There's nothing set in stone but she's got something in mind, it'll be 'short & sweet'.

Like her other 3 album titles?

I'll laugh if the actual title is Short & Sweet.

That's what I thought but there were no quotes... Haha..

I would love something autobiographical. In that I mean a word or phrase that really sums up the past 7 years. It's got to be so hard to pick one for her, but I'm sure having the aid of the songs she has already recorded will make the job a bit easier.

Miranda's "Revolution" was perfect, it's like she knew it would "revolutionize" her career.

What ever it is, I'm sure I'll love it! I'm getting so excited for this, I truly cannot wait. Is it bad that the minute a release date is announced, I'll be requesting the day off from work? I requested the CMAs off... Lol... True Carrie fan right here!

[Deleted]

It sounds like Carrie's got an awful lot in mind. Album title, lead single...
She needs to get that freaking meeting with the label together ASAP. This Carebear is gettin' anxious.

[jptexas]

Carrie really knows how to keep her fans hanging in the wind. But, it's great PR. If you can't have it right now, you want it even more. She's an enigma, portrays this really nice, kind, spiritual girl, but deep down inside, she's devilish. lol

[Typo]

Windmills posted a nice recap of Carrie's latest Country Weekly interview over at MJ's Blog:

The new Country Weekly cover story is a Carrie & Brad interview where they talk about cohosting the CMA Awards and also interview each other. Among other things Brad asks Carrie about when her 4th album is coming out and about how many outfit changes Carrie'll have at the CMA Awards this year. The interview took place on Sept 7th because Brad tweeted while it was going on.

I'm going to talk about the outfit part first but only because Carrie made an analogy that she brought up again for the album. Carrie says she wants to do something different this year with her CMA outfits, she may design one of her dresses, she has a few ideas but always has a tough time explaining them. She wants to be able to look back at pictures of these outfits and immediately recognize "this was year 4".

When Brad asks her about when her next album's coming out, Carrie says she feels like there's always been a date set before she even got started working on the album. She talked about how there's so many people who aren't as involved with making the album as she is who just say "Just give us something!" But, she says she doesn't want it to be that easy.

Going into this album Carrie really wanted to take some time to grow up, figure out where she wants to take the music, make the album, and then set a date. Just like this year's CMA outfits, she says she wants to be able to look back when she's 90 years old and know "this was album 4" and how it was totally different from album 3. She says she's making progress on it and has recorded half of it though there's no guarantee that'll all make the album.

[Deleted]

CARRIE'S 2012 GRAMMY SUBMISSIONS
--The lists leaked, but only specific people have found them, so people on Goldderby.com are asking someone who has the lists about the nods. I registered to see the information involving Carrie (ignore the stupid screenname; I simply typed in the first thing that came to my mind, lol ).

Record of the Year: "Mama's Song", "Remind Me" w/ Brad Paisley
Song of the Year: "Mama's Song"
Pop Vocal Performance: "There a Place For Us"
Country Song: "Mama's Song"
Country Vocal by a Duo/Group/Collaboration: "Remind Me" w/ Brad Paisley
Country Vocal Performance: "Mama's Song"
Short Form Music Video: "Remind Me" w/ Brad Paisley

[carrieidol1]

Oct 25, 2011 17:53:37 GMT -5 @14887fan said:

CARRIE'S 2012 GRAMMY SUBMISSIONS
--The lists leaked, but only specific people have found them, so people on Goldderby.com are asking someone who has the lists about the nods. I registered to see the information involving Carrie (ignore the stupid screenname; I simply typed in the first thing that came to my mind, lol ).

Record of the Year: "Mama's Song", "Remind Me" w/ Brad Paisley
Song of the Year "Mama's Song"
Pop Vocal Performance: "There a Place For Us"
Country Song: "Mama's Song"
Country Vocal by a Duo/Group/Collaboration "Remind Me" w/ Brad Paisley
Country Vocal Performance: "Mama's Song"

They should have submitted RM for Country Song as well... Hopefully RM gets something because there is no way in Hell MS gets nominated...

I say that, but Carrie has managed to be nominated every year since 2007 so I really hope I'm wrong on this :)

[Deleted]

Added on Short Form Music Video for "Remind Me".

[cufan7]

Hopefully "Remind Me" gets a nomination somewhere along the line. Would love to see it win Country Collab!

[Deleted]

It's pretty clear that MS won't get much love (or any, at that), but my main concern is that RM is submitted along with Old Alabama, and I don't want split-voting to screw RM over.

[Typo]

Carrie blogged tonight. It's all about Mike's return to the ice. #no1curr

Anyway, just thought I'd add that the Country Weekly interview has got me extremely intrigued about Carrie's image for Album #4. Seems like she's got a real aesthetic of some sort chosen for this upcoming era. I think that just goes to show how determined Carrie is about making this album all it can be. She's really going the extra mile.

[Deleted]

^^Took the words out of my mouth with her "going the extra mile." I've never seen her so determined to make something so incredibly perfect down to a tee. I suppose that if I must build up more patience and wait even longer for this album to be prepared, then I will do so. The CMAs will hold me over for the time being.

[imafan]

Going into this album Carrie really wanted to take some time to grow up

This sounds good. I don't remember the exact quote, but she said something about not being into "love songs" but here marriage has led her to write quite a few of them. And maybe it's just me, but I believe that in the "Remind Me" video we saw her go from a beautiful girl to a beautiful woman. I'm really looking foward to the album, but I think I'll really be disappointed if there is not a really soulful love song included.

[43dudleyvillas]

Oct 26, 2011 9:32:47 GMT -5 imafan said:

Going into this album Carrie really wanted to take some time to grow up

This sounds good. I don't remember the exact quote, but she said something about not being into "love songs" but here marriage has led her to write quite a few of them. And maybe it's just me, but I believe that in the "Remind Me" video we saw her go from a beautiful girl to a beautiful woman. I'm really looking foward to the album, but I think I'll really be disappointed if there is not a really soulful love song included.

Yeah...I've been thinking for a while that this "offseason" for Carrie has been quite deliberate and served a few purposes for her. I would've sounded smarter had I thrown out these few thoughts before the summary of the Country Weekly interview was posted (assuming it is accurate), but here goes anyway.

I had originally thought cutting off PO at four singles with new music a while away was a decision driven by ROI (return on investment) considerations on Gary Overton's part. But I've been thinking lately that it was a decision intended to distance Carrie's new music from her past albums. She has had three albums rooted in a young woman's dreamy understanding of family life and faith coupled with a clear code for what's right and what's wrong in a young relationship. But Carrie is now a married woman in her late 20s -- it's about time for her music to embrace everything that means whether in reference to relationship dynamics, sexuality, hopes, fears, spiritual development, or day-to-day life. "Songs Like This" (apparently the intended fifth PO single) would have been a hit, and "Someday When I Stop Loving You" and "What Can I Say" are excellent, mature, and poignant songs that would have done well to foster presence and continuity between album eras. But if the goal was for Carrie to grow up, then continuity isn't desirable. I would say it's smarter to let some distance develop to help make the break from the past more credible (and to give Carrie some time to actually develop music that fulfills a more grown-up identity). Of course, it hasn't been a full-fledged absence from country radio thanks to "Remind Me". But like imafan, I see "Remind Me" as a song that could help transition Carrie into a new phase of her music.

There are obviously risks involved. Today's entertainment world seems dominated by the attitude that ubiquity and constant visibility is the best promotional strategy, and country radio seems to hold only a few places for women these days. But Carrie has never seemed too keen on ubiquity or constant visibility. I'm sure Arista Nashville would have loved the safety of a new Carrie album out during the holidays, but I think all parties agreed that the safety of a platinum-plus album that would come from a holiday release was outweighed by the promise of a chance for Carrie to define herself anew and hopefully in a way that will generate its own word of mouth. And I also think it was smart and self-aware of Carrie to take some time to live her life and hopefully figure out a little bit more about who she is now. I'm certainly not interested in an all-personal album since one of the things I've always liked about Carrie is that she has the sense to realize that not everything about her life is inherently worthy of a song. But what I am interested in is in a more adult perspective from her that reflects the new things that she thinks about as someone who has made a lifelong commitment as a marital and spiritual partner to another. Developing that perspective is a long process, but I think Carrie's choice in 2011 to take a step back from public, self-promoting life at least gave her a chance to start.

As for country radio, there hasn't been a shortage of women trying to get more traction at country radio, but no one has been able to do so with consistency. Sara Evans has struggled to back up her comeback hit, it took extremely heavy promotion to spark Martina McBride's topical current single, Reba's singles have fizzled, Kellie Pickler's most recent single fizzled, country radio didn't warm to Sunny Sweeney's follow-up to a top-10 hit and so she's trying again, and Ashton Shepherd's current single is struggling after her first top-20 hit. Lauren Alaina is just getting started, and I find it interesting that her people (with Carrie's blessing, I think) appear to be ushering Lauren into that big-voiced young country/pop woman spot that Carrie has vacated (the cover of Lauren's album is, in my view, telling in that regard). For the moment, I think country radio is still waiting for Carrie and hasn't rushed to fill her spot.

But, of course, what will matter in the end is the music. I think Carrie has made the right noises about the next album and the right decisions about the process and her life. Hopefully, the music will back that up.

Oct 20, 2011 15:48:06 GMT -5 what said:

ikyw will forever join the night before and someday when i stop loving you as carrie's best songs never to be released as singles. and its such a tragedy considering that these songs are much much better than songs that actually got released as singles. sometimes, releasing the right (or wrong) songs as singles can impact a career too....still cant stop imagining sometimes what could have happened had swisly had been released instead and mamas song is buried down down under in that album and would have been just a forgotten footnote in carries catalog.

I'm going to disagree with respect to "I Know You Won't" being a single. I wouldn't have traded any of the Carnival Ride era singles for IKYW, in particular not "I Told You So" which served as the vulnerable, emotive ballad single during that era. I'll grant you all of IKYW's merits as a song and agree that Carrie's live performance of the song is wrenching. But some songs just aren't made for the repetitive, passive listening radio environment, and IKYW is such a song because of a somewhat plodding melody (that's become less so thanks to Carrie and her band's rearrangement of the live version).

In addition, I'm going to point out that despite Carrie's terrific People's Choice Awards show performance of the song, it didn't make the iTunes top 200 songs at the time. Maybe the wrong crowd, but still. Moreover, although IKYW was consistently singled out by reviewers as a show highlight during the Carnival Ride tour (and subsequently during the Play On tour), the one location where it didn't seem to go over quite as well was Nashville (that is, The Tennessean, in its review of the CR tour; I don't believe the Tennessean's rave about the PO tour mentioned IKYW). Although IKYW is similar in style and emotional resonance to Trisha Yearwood's "This Is Me You're Talking To," I think IKYW as a single wouldn't have resonated as well as the typical Carrie single at country radio (Trisha's song didn't do all that well, but there were additional factors at work including radio's allergy to women of a certain age, and Big Machine's failure to promote her song as it did other priority acts).

The only single trade I would have made during the CR era would be to send out "Crazy Dreams" instead of "So Small" as a lead single. I can agree with you, however, about SWISLY and add WCIS during the PO era. But I would also refer back to my comments at the beginning of the post and suggest that ending the PO era with "Mama's Song" was perhaps about marking a transitional moment when it comes to what Carrie sings about.

On a side note: Kelly Clarkson's lyric change in her cover of IKYW made the mistake of overexplicating what was a subtle and more poignant point in the original lyric. We already know that he won't change -- that's why the "I know you" lyric is there in the first place. The change also added a harsher vowel sound amidst the softer ones in the chorus, making it less musical. Her melisma also made the lyric less conversational, but on the bright side it broke up the monotony of the melody and made it a little more fluid. Kelly's bluesy flavor is nice, too. In any event, it's interesting to hear how well two very different singers adapted the song.

[dbhmr]

Most artists talking about their efforts to make this album so much better and more perfect would be setting themselves up for a fall, but I actually think Carrie could pull it off. She's a huge star without the overexposure and potential backlash of, say, a Lady Gaga, and there is no reason that her material shouldn't be taking that next step. As a non-Carrie fan, I'm genuinely intrigued to see what she'll come up with, have pretty high expectations, and I'm sorta starting to think she could meet them. I think she's in a good place. I hope her first single breaks away from that BHC template.

[what]

dudley! its so great to see you here again!!!

But I would also refer back to my comments at the beginning of the post and suggest that ending the PO era with "Mama's Song" was perhaps about marking a transitional moment when it comes to what Carrie sings about.

but that song was such a horrible dreck, its hard to see it as anything otherwise. the sentiment was sweet - i dont mind it. but the execution and lyrics could have been way better. crystal shawanda did a similar song a few years back but as a tribute to her father instead. same sentiment, but one song ended up better than the other.

and i think look at me would have served the purpose better, if thats what theyre going for.

also i would switch songs like this for undo it. i think the latter single choices made play on a worse album than it actually was.

[Deleted]

Dudley - that post was flawless. This long period of time certainly is marking a transition in Carrie's career, and I'm more than ecstatic to see what album number 4 brings us.

[countryfan1985]

There's a new promo for the CMA's, of you haven't seen it yet..


here's it is:

[Deleted]

Oct 26, 2011 18:20:43 GMT -5 countryfan1985 said:

There is new promo of CMA's of you haven't seen it yet..

Different from the Donny/Marie and the Miss Piggie one?

[countryfan1985]

Oct 26, 2011 18:22:32 GMT -5 @14887fan said:

Oct 26, 2011 18:20:43 GMT -5 countryfan1985 said:

There is new promo of CMA's of you haven't seen it yet..

Different from the Donny/Marie and the Miss Piggie one?

no its not.. I didn't know of you saw the miss piggie one.. Funny.

[43dudleyvillas]

Oct 26, 2011 15:00:45 GMT -5 what said:

and i think look at me would have served the purpose better, if thats what theyre going for.

also i would switch songs like this for undo it. i think the latter single choices made play on a worse album than it actually was.

Oh, I agree on both counts. I would imagine the particular applicability of "Mama's Song" to that very moment in Carrie's life was what sealed the deal there. Fine concept (as most of Carrie's cowrites have been to date), needed better execution. Much like the typical Roman White video...but in any event, bygones. I was just proposing an explanation for the lack of a 5th PO single that ties into Carrie's approach to her next album. It just seems to me like Carrie would like to reintroduce herself in a way.

Oct 25, 2011 11:09:01 GMT -5 jptexas said:

Carrie really knows how to keep her fans hanging in the wind. But, it's great PR.

I don't think it's "great" PR since her casual fans are probably not frothing at the mouth the way her core fans are. I don't think it will be difficult to reintroduce Carrie to the masses, however, so I don't think there's a great cost at the moment to Carrie taking a step back from the publicity forefront while others chase ubiquity.

It will "just" take the right songs for Carrie. The safety net of holiday shopping would have been meaningless long term without them. Hopefully, Carrie has been finding and/or writing them, and hopefully, those are the songs that she will release.

[freeman]

I just hope Carrie knows what she is doing because this time I feel the anticipation for this album among big Carrie fans is really huge. A lot of fans are getting restless and the pressure is mounting for this album to be the best yet by far. I hope Carrie delivers! From what she has said about making this album really special I have hope that the quality of it will exceed her past work and I kind of expect it to since she seems to have put a lot of thought into it.
Though with myself being easy to please anything Carrie puts out will satisfy me.

[boomer187]

Dudley! I got so excited when I saw your name! What a wonderful post, I'm going to read it again!!

[leilamaurizia]

Carrie Underwood, Play On (1,000, -2%, 2.042 million)
Carrie Underwood, Some Hearts (1,000, +14%, 7.134 million)

Brad Paisley/Carrie Underwood, Remind Me (22,000, -11%, 1.091 million)
Carrie Underwood, Just a Dream (4,000, -6%, 1.015 million)

Idol Chatter

[imafan]

Dudley, I've missed your input. Your post said so much of what I've been feeling about the upcoming era in Carrie's music. Thank you for taking the time to share.

[misterscribbs]

Dudley, I too have missed you. Please don't be such a stranger!

[fischbone]

DUDLEY, we've all missed you! :)

So, I'm hearing some rumors that Kelly is doing IKYW for VH1 Unplugged? Cool but Carrie needs to be doing this for something like that. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Kelly's completely different version but damn.... I guess we'll always have concert vids...

[countrygirl918]

Oct 27, 2011 11:14:12 GMT -5 fischbone said:

DUDLEY, we've all missed you! :)

So, I'm hearing some rumors that Kelly is doing IKYW for VH1 Unplugged? Cool but Carrie needs to be doing this for something like that. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Kelly's completely different version but damn.... I guess we'll always have concert vids...

Why would Kelly do IKYW instead of one of the songs from her brand new album? I hope this isn't true. If IKYW gets to be performed on TV again, I want it to be Carrie. :/