Carrie Underwood | 4th Album Era | Part I

[countrybamafan]

Dec 15, 2011 7:39:22 GMT -5 Typo said:

New co-write over at BMI:

"1989" - David Hodges / Steve McEwan / Carrie Underwood

That's the year I was born!

Some of these titles are very interesting. I hope this album doesn't disappoint!

[justlurkingaround]

Dec 15, 2011 9:00:54 GMT -5 cufan7 said:

Dec 15, 2011 7:39:22 GMT -5 Typo said:

New co-write over at BMI:

"1989" - David Hodges / Steve McEwan / Carrie Underwood

I love that. Anything big happen that year that this could be about? I wasn't alive then...

The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Also, I was born.

[areyoureadytojump]

The New Release Schedule now has a May 1st release date for Carrie's new album.

[metsfan]

Wow still so far off!

[maddkat]

4 more months?? :(

[zaclord 🌈]

Um no. I will die. They must have meant March.

[countrygirl918]

Why on earth would they wait that long when the album is all but completely done already? I hope that's a typo.

If the album isn't coming out until May, I guess we won't get the lead single in January after all, unless they're planning on releasing two singles before the album drops.

[CarrieUfan]

Dec 15, 2011 17:16:56 GMT -5 zaclord 🌈 said:

Um no. I will die. They must have meant March.

I really hope it's earlier, but May 1st 2012 is a tuesday, so it could very well be the actual release date.

If it's true, I hope they're releasing two singles before the album drops or release some iTunes countdown singles at least.

[Cody Wants Out...]

I'd prefer her to do one single before the album drops, but two may work if the album is indeed coming out in May. I was somehow thinking it'd be March 20 or later. May 1st, in that case, is way later.

[Deleted]

May 1st?? I LOVE Carrie, but I'm starting to get really annoyed. She needs to say something and IF something is not coming out soon I think she has an obligation to be honest. If this is true I am going to be so ticked off...

[justlurkingaround]

Carrie said early 2012. May counts as mid of 2012 as far as I'm concerned, not early.

[countrygirl918]

The album better live up to all the hype it's getting, or I'm worried there will be a lot of annoyed fans. It better be worth the long, long, long wait.

[Typo]

Waiting until May to slay. <3

[Deleted]

MAY?

*slams head on keyboard*

[freeman]

If May is the real release date at least one positive thing is that May is normally a sunny and happy month where I live. Whenever I hear albums I always remember when I first listened to them and I always have good memories of the warm summer month albums.

But, I am gonna die if we don't at least get a single soon!!!!!!!! :/

I just hope that her label knows what they are doing or I hope they release it in March like many of us expected...

[countrygirl918]

I really think the label must have some incredible promo opportunity lined up to justify waiting until May to release the album.

[Deleted]

I'm personally nervous for this new album. This is the first album release of Carrie's where Joe Galante isn't in control, and ever since he left, we've all seen what's happened with Carrie (PO ended with MS [we still don't know if that was Carrie's decision or the label's], Carrie was held back from CMA Awards nods, Carrie wasn't nominated for the ACMs even though she was the reigning EOTY, etc.). I'm just anxious to see what happens. This new guy better make sure his act is in check & gear for this album release. Stacked promo lineups and hardcore lead single promotion.

[carrieidol1]

May 1st... This better be fucking epic or I'll be pissed. I love Carrie and all but "very soon" means very soon... May 1st is not very soon at all, almost 6 months from now :/

Hopefully it's wrong and that was the date that was agreed on as "no later than this date" by the label...

UGH This kinda bummed me out :(

[what]

i guess patience isnt a virtue anymore?

would you guys rather carrie be like "f*ck it, my fans will eat up anything anyway, abc, the telephone book, wahtever. lets release all the rejects from the past albums and might as well make a quick buck out of it"?

adele didnt make 21 in one night. there was a good 3 years in between 19 and 21. good albums take time. and really, this is the first time that carrie has taken an "extended" break, and some are gonna be pissed because instead of 3 months from now, she adds 2 more months?! what if she suddenly gets pregnant and decides to take an even longer break? some of you are gonna be falling off the edge.

who knows, maybe carrie is waiting to see if the mayan prophecy of the world's end will come true before releasing another album. that way, she knows for sure it'll have a long shelf life.

all but "very soon" means very soon... May 1st is not very soon at all, almost 6 months from now

it really depends on how you perceive "very soon". to me, may 1 is within the context of very soon, its almost 2012, and we have our own lives to live. and when did carrie say the album will be out "very soon"? or did she just mean there will be news about the album "very soon"? sounds like 2 diff things for me.

[dbhmr]

Albums rarely come out when the artist originally says they will, and fan bases are surprised every single time.

[carrieidol1]

Dec 15, 2011 21:09:47 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

Albums rarely come out when the artist originally says they will, and fan bases are surprised every single time.

Perhaps because Carrie doesn't have a track record like most. Her albums all came out 2 years apart so anything longer feels like forever. Along with that she never really hinted about album news until days or weeks before official news was out for any of her past works, so this is just very unlike her...

[countrygirl918]

I don't think people would be as shocked about the May 1st release date if we hadn't gotten so many comments from Carrie recently saying she'd be "touring her face off" in 2012, and they album would be out in the "beginning of the year" and "very soon." Also, that earlier release schedule that had the album listed as March/April TBD didn't help, either.

Sorry, but I don't see how half a year away is "soon". ;) I just hope we don't have to wait three more months for at least the single.

[Deleted]

I was definitely thinking the album would come out no later than the end of March. If they are only going to do 1 single before the album and it's coming out May 1st, it looks like we may have to wait until March for the lead single.

[gran29]

Where did the information about a May 1st release date come from? That doesn't seem like it can be right. If they're putting the finishing touches on the album now, why wait 5 months to release it?

[misterscribbs]

Dec 15, 2011 23:27:00 GMT -5 gran29 said:

Where did the information about a May 1st release date come from? That doesn't seem like it can be right. If they're putting the finishing touches on the album now, why wait 5 months to release it?

There's lot of reasons to wait. I would imagine they want to wait because they have really great promo lined up. As much as it sucks we have to wait even longer than we anticipated, I'm willing to wait if it's best for her career.

[Gravity.]

Dec 15, 2011 9:37:18 GMT -5 maddkat said:

^^Carrie was 6

That's how old John was in "83." Clearly it's an homage. Even it isn't, I'll say otherwise.

[Deleted]

Whether the album comes out then or not, I'm confident the lead single will come out soon. Last week's Billboard Country Update detailed some new music coming out in January...it didn't specifically say Carrie's single would come out then, but it did say that Arista Nashville was readying to launch the single soon. I took it to mean that they're setting up the "groundwork" and getting ready for it to blast off not too far into the new year..

[Deleted]

May is kind of a weird month to release an album; there are no major awards & nothing that I can think of that would boost her career that much. I'm lost This album better slay, just sayin'. I can appreciate Carrie is taking her time, but why are they waiting 5 months?? It makes no sense. They need to give us something, because this is getting kind of crazy.

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but does anyone else think the change could be due to the recent shakeups at Artista? As you guys have said Carrie's career has not been the same since Joe left; I hope this isn't the case, but all the recent events make me wonder if something sinister is going on.

[43dudleyvillas]

OK, I'm a little puzzled here. I know Carrie has been throwing out some vague comments about timing here and there, and I do understand being anxious for new material. But it seems to me that a few basic logical considerations have been pointing to a Q2 2012 album release. Perhaps the end of March was a possibility, but from where I sit, important indicators pointed later.

Specifically, Carrie's recording schedule and Sony Nashville's announced impact schedule both pointed to a Q2 album release. Remember, for example, that Brad's label submission deadline for an April 2011 release of his album was in December 2010 (he missed that deadline, obviously, and finally submitted his album to Arista Nashville in February 2011 for a late May 2011 release).

As of last week, Carrie said they were having a hard time trimming down material. Moreover, this is the time when she had previously indicated that she would put vocals on four to six songs to finish her part of the album. That is around one-third to one-half of the album that was still not firmed down as of last week (not just from a recording standpoint -- the actual songs to be recorded were evidently still not decided). Even if there was a lead single favorite from among the rest (and it sounds like Carrie had an unofficial one), I don't know why one would want to finalize the lead single without filling out such a significant portion of the rest of the album. After all, single sequencing matters (for example, a consequence of starting off Carnival Ride with "So Small" was that the standout power ballad "Just a Dream" had to be held until the following fall as the fourth single).

So, after they have taken the time to put together the album, it seems like a better plan to know what will be on the album, and then to finalize single selection. After that, the label would develop specific promotional content for radio and the public. That won't happen overnight and considering that we are heading into the holidays, that process may be a little slower than usual.

Billboard Country Update and Country Aircheck have been posting adds dates for the new year, and there are two within the Sony family for 9 and 16 January respectively (Miranda Lambert and Ronnie Dunn). That technically leaves 2 January open, but I'm not sure why, after all this time, any fan would want Carrie's single just thrown out there without advance promotion. With that in mind, it doesn't seem likely that a new single will impact prior to 23 January. That would give Arista Nashville a little time to let everyone settle back in after the holidays and then stoke a little radio and public anticipation.

So if a late January impact date is the earliest that can reasonably expected, that pretty much naturally pushes the album into the April or later release zone. I understand that Carrie is a format artist for country and that country radio would jump all over her new single to begin with, but even a "Cowboy Casanova"-esque ten-week run to the top would be difficult to achieve in these more crowded chart times (a whole new crop of core acts has emerged since Play On was released, one has to assume there will be other songs that cut through from non-core acts, and one should probably assume some Big Machine shenanigans messing up the chart at some point, as well). Arista Nashville certainly couldn't assume a peak in ten weeks, though that would probably be sufficient time for the single to really register in country fans' minds.

Thus, if the label were willing to release the album ten weeks after the single impact, that would early-mid April if the single came out in late January. If the label were aiming for an album release closer to the likely single peak (say, twelve to fourteen weeks after the single impacted) and the single came out in late January or February, then a late April/May album release would be more likely.

With that in mind, a possible 1 May release date shouldn't be a shocker. Strategic considerations like other artists' release dates, planned single impact dates from other artists, and the availability of media opportunities like magazine features/covers, TV events, and even key internet events (if Sony Nashville wants to get with the times) can always shift things up or back by a few weeks.

A couple of other points: I don't think there needs to be a major TV event during the first week of release for the release week to be a good one. After all, Carrie will probably have the option of some nice prime time exposure on American Idol. Second week sales would probably be buffered somewhat by Mothers' Day sales (typically a good week for country releases). I imagine the Billboard Awards would be happy to have Carrie perform if she were interested, and those take place sometime in May. May should provide plenty of TV opportunities to buffer the early weeks of sales.

Bottom line: if 1 May 2012 is the release date, it doesn't strike me as the least bit unusual giving Carrie's recording schedule. It would be nice, of course, if the label and management could put together a nice promotional campaign that will reward core fans for their patience and reach out to casual and possibly new fans with the material.

[carrieidol1]

^ I honestly never thought of it like that, but the 10 week theory makes perfect sense. I guess a few months won't hurt. Anticipation will only build with time, and the more time the better. I'm also quite excited about the promotional line up that's possible. During May, All the talk shows are still filming their final episodes before Summer; Regis & Kelly, Ellen, The Talk, The View, etc. There are also all the late night talk shows; Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, etc... Then of course prime time specials; Billboard Awards, American Idol, and I'm sure there are others. Along with all this, you have the ACMs in April which will be PERFECT promotion for the single at that time.

Needless to say, thanks to Dudley, I'm now excited!