Carrie Underwood – "Cry Pretty"

[liza]

Too much of everything.

[g8erboi]

Damn, her vocals range from “Mama’s Song” all the way to “Mexico” in this song though.

[Ivy Leegue™]

This might be my favorite Carrie lead and definitely up there in her catalog as one of my favorite songs. She absolutely NAILS this vocally and I love the anthemic rock arrangement. A+

Edit: This is DEFINITELY my favorite lead single from her, after looking through her catalog. It's everything I want from her, really.

[lady𝓐fan]

Catching up to “Nice for What” on iTunes, currently selling 57% of it. “Cry Pretty” is bright green while Drake’s song is light red. It may not have the longevity to reach #1, but we’ll see. :)

[g8erboi]

The last minute of the song is the BEST last minute of any Carrie song ever.

[anitabakerfan]

Two thumbs up!! Get it Carrie!!!

[songslikethis]

Really amazing song! It took a few listens for me to come around; I think I'm one of the few people that actually wants Carrie to have more pop influences in her songs, and so when I realized it was more country-rock than country-pop, it took a moment to readjust my expectations. Her lead singles have always been strong with the exception of Smoke Break (in my opinion), so I'm very excited to see what the rest of the album has in store.

[Uncle Lumpy]

Damn! I'm never going to be a huge Carrie fan and that last minute may wear thin with repeated listens.... but this aint bad.

[Stephen]

Kyle from SCM gave this an 8/10. I’m shook.

[Ragin]

It's a good song that goes way over the top toward the end. Too much. It doesn't matter if she's got it under control if I can't tell the difference from the sound with people who don't.

This could go either way, but it reminds me of (and I really hate to say this given her start) idol singers that try to belt out crowd-pleasing strong long notes without regard for the music or song itself.

[Deleted]

Apr 11, 2018 12:56:11 GMT -5 Ragin said:

It's a good song that goes way over the top toward the end. Too much. It doesn't matter if she's got it under control if I can't tell the difference from the sound with people who don't.

This could go either way, but it reminds me of (and I really hate to say this given her start) idol singers that try to belt out crowd-pleasing strong long notes without regard for the music or song itself.

The difference, for me at least, is that Carrie seems to hold this song in very high regard, so the emotion and "over-singing" are justified. Again, at least to me.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

This has a very "warm" sound to it. I feel that the belting is not overdone because there's restraint in the earlier vocals, and I've never found Carrie's belting as ear-splitting as Martina's to begin with (with a few exceptions like "So Small"). I also feel that this is very well written lyrically.

[Troublemaker]

This song is ALMOST #1 on iTunes

Drake 1.0000
Carrie Underwood 0.9596

[Ragin]

Apr 11, 2018 13:04:29 GMT -5 @adam1995 said:

Apr 11, 2018 12:56:11 GMT -5 Ragin said:

It's a good song that goes way over the top toward the end. Too much. It doesn't matter if she's got it under control if I can't tell the difference from the sound with people who don't.

This could go either way, but it reminds me of (and I really hate to say this given her start) idol singers that try to belt out crowd-pleasing strong long notes without regard for the music or song itself.

The difference, for me at least, is that Carrie seems to hold this song in very high regard, so the emotion and "over-singing" are justified. Again, at least to me.

I get that point. Maybe that will resonate with me more upon repeated listens. That's just how it strikes me now. I found myself reminded of music eras and styles that I don't think have withstood the test of time very well. But again, I will hear this more and my perspective usually changes on songs over time when they are worth repeated listens and this song is worth repeated listens.

[Naos]

A good dose of country rock. Probably will grow on me, but light 7/10 for now.

[Kanenrá:ke]

Apr 11, 2018 15:36:18 GMT -5 Ragin said:

Apr 11, 2018 13:04:29 GMT -5 @adam1995 said:

The difference, for me at least, is that Carrie seems to hold this song in very high regard, so the emotion and "over-singing" are justified. Again, at least to me.

I get that point. Maybe that will resonate with me more upon repeated listens. That's just how it strikes me now. I found myself reminded of music eras and styles that I don't think have withstood the test of time very well. But again, I will hear this more and my perspective usually changes on songs over time when they are worth repeated listens and this song is worth repeated listens.

For what it's worth I feel like you hit the nail on the head saying it sounds like Idol's long notes being tossed in more to showboat than any real artistic reason.

Maybe it'll grow on me but I'm on listen 15 (Carrie has earned a pass for me to give her a ton of chances) and it's not really working yet. I'm really not enjoying anything past the second chorus.

[bornfearless2000]

#1 on itunes!!

[Gray.]

This is super underwhelming to me. It's fine, but I was hoping for something more memorable.

[toomuchboy]

I'd probably put it after So Small--and Something in the Water, too, if it counts--as far as her first singles go, but I do love it. (I remember liking CC more at the time than this song, but CC hasn't aged well.) And if this is a similar situation to Smoke Break, where the lead is one of the lesser songs on the album, this is going to be a great era. The second verse and those gorgeous high notes at the very end were my favorite parts of the song.

I like the single cover, although it doesn't quite look like her.

[Deleted]

I love it already upon 1st listen even if that last minute is over the top
She's gonna send me to the grave when she sings that last minute live

[14887fan]

#1 on iTunes with “The Champion” bookending the Top 10. Absolutely incredible.

[carrieidol1]

Growing more in love with this with every listen. Truly a masterpiece!

[bornfearless2000]

Saw the radio update at CF and it got more than 1200 spins on first day. More than Keith Urban who had CC deal, but a bit below Kenny Chesney who also had CC deal. (Thanks to Maddkat for the update).

Anyway. The last one minute is everything diva wannabe dream. Im still belting it with my heart out.

[onebuffalo]

A MediaBase debut:

0 39 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Cry Pretty 1232 0 1232 9.47

[robenglund]

Waltzes / 3/4 time is really in right now. You got this, “You Make It Easy” and “I Hate Love Songs”. This definitely doesn’t grab me instantly like “Smoke Break” due to the lack of hook, but it’s definitely a well-written song that’ll do well for her. When I heard it yesterday on my iHeartMedia station, I’m pretty sure that last minute everyone was talking about got cut off. When I listened to the full version later, it definitely made me appreciate/feel the song more.

[carrieidol1]

Apr 12, 2018 11:41:04 GMT -5 robenglund said:

Waltzes / 3/4 time is really in right now. You got this, “You Make It Easy” and “I Hate Love Songs”. This definitely doesn’t grab me instantly like “Smoke Break” due to the lack of hook, but it’s definitely a well-written song that’ll do well for her. When I heard it yesterday on my iHeartMedia station, I’m pretty sure that last minute everyone was talking about got cut off. When I listened to the full version later, it definitely made me appreciate/feel the song more.

Yeah... about that, will there be a radio edit? 4+ minutes is kinda long for a radio single. I’m hoping they don’t cut parts out because I have no clue where they’d even make cuts?... more of a rhetorical question, but just wanted to add that to the discussion...

[Marv]

Today's country MDs and PDs are very used to singles in excess of four minutes, so the 4:12 length of the lyric video version really doesn't matter to any of them.

Keep in mind that 'American Top 40' was expanded to a 4-hour show in 1978 as more and more singles got longer and longer with Elton John leading the way who released a slew of them starting in 1970, and everybody else followed suit.

[lady𝓐fan]

Now that I’ve heard this several times, I can say that I’m impressed. It sounds like a song that could have been on Carnival Ride (which is my favorite Carrie album. This will most likely debut in the top 20, because although it has lower first-day audience, it has more time to gain than Kenny had, and he debuted at #19.

[CoJoFan]

This is just ok to me. I’d say out of all her debut singles this would be my least favorite with my favorite being “So Small”. Hopefully the rest of the album is good.

[Deleted]

I feel as though this song is devoid of any melody in contrast to her previous releases most notably her last few lead singles.