Carrie Underwood – "Cry Pretty"

[Ragin]

I like the video. Totally goes with the song. And what's more, I think I like the song better now.

[Space Cowboy]

Love Carrie, but this song has burned on me very quickly. I thought "Smoke Break" was my least favorite lead single from her, but this might end up taking its place in the long run. I do agree with the criticism of the artwork for the single and album as well. For a 35-year-old woman, the pink/purple and glittery tears just seem a bit immature, I guess?

I will say, however, that I appreciate that she released a more introspective song as a single. She usually keeps the more personal songs as album tracks ("Good in Goodbye", "The Girl You Think I Am", etc) and it's not like she has many of those in her discography to begin with.

I just don't see this song giving her the "global superstar" status that they are aiming for. I have a feeling the rest of the album will be much better though. I hope I'm right.

[Ragin]

Are there global country stars? Huh. New one on me.

[thewp]

Well, that is one of the stated goals with her new label/ contract. I would think she has some international American Idol goodwill. I agree, though, that the video needed to be more epic for that goal.

[Ragin]

It's hard to have an epic video if you don't have an epic song. I like it now, which is more than I can say initially, but I get why fans might be disappointed with this as a lead single. I just think the video is good in relation to the song, I have no problems with it.

[Deleted]

May 7, 2018 14:46:38 GMT -5 Ragin said:

Are there global country stars? Huh. New one on me.

Dolly Damn Parton

Here's some reading for ya this evening.

[carrieidol1]

May 7, 2018 14:46:38 GMT -5 Ragin said:

Are there global country stars? Huh. New one on me.

Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, and Garth Brooks are far and away the biggest, but there are numerous others for which strong cases could be made.

[travelrocks24]

May 7, 2018 13:55:39 GMT -5 Space Cowboy said:

Love Carrie, but this song has burned on me very quickly. I thought "Smoke Break" was my least favorite lead single from her, but this might end up taking its place in the long run. I do agree with the criticism of the artwork for the single and album as well. For a 35-year-old woman, the pink/purple and glittery tears just seem a bit immature, I guess?

I will say, however, that I appreciate that she released a more introspective song as a single. She usually keeps the more personal songs as album tracks ("Good in Goodbye", "The Girl You Think I Am", etc) and it's not like has many of those in her discography to begin with.

I just don't see this song giving her the "global superstar" status that they are aiming for. I have a feeling the rest of the album will be much better though. I hope I'm right.

This song is getting overplayed, and the MB numbers prove it.  

The video is OK at best, and I don't recall how many times she has used concert footage as part of a video. 

[Ragin]

May 7, 2018 17:05:59 GMT -5 carrieidol1 said:

May 7, 2018 14:46:38 GMT -5 Ragin said:

Are there global country stars? Huh. New one on me.

Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, and Garth Brooks are far and away the biggest, but there are numerous others for which strong cases could be made.

Okay, just checking out Garth Brooks, for example, who has allegedly sold 170 million albums or units worldwide. Out of that 170, 148 are in the US. That's NOT a global superstar, that's a US megastar that dabbles abroad.

Country music is largely a United States thing. There is Canada and Australia, but by and large there isn't much of a world market for it. That's just a reality. If Carrie's label wants to get her more known in foreign markets, go for it. I'm not sure they will get much return on that investment even if they claim success in the vein of the artists you mentioned.

[desertfloods]

Shania Twain was a global star. Garth Brooks definitely wasn't. I grew up in Asia and hardly heard of him or his music, unless you specifically looked for country music.

Shania's music on the hand, were played on many main radio stations, albums available everywhere, TV ads etc.

[Ragin]

May 8, 2018 6:44:16 GMT -5 desertfloods said:

Shania Twain was a global star. Garth Brooks definitely wasn't. I grew up in Asia and hardly heard of him or his music, unless you specifically looked for country music.

Shania's music on the hand, were played on many main radio stations, albums available everywhere, TV ads etc.

Yes, and I see that window for crossover gone with Carrie. She chose country, and I think the longevity of her career will be the positive result of that.

[Deleted]

I don't think the intention was ever to make her as far reaching as Shania Twain. I think it was more likely to at least raise her profile in other places around the world. I would think most likely in Australia and Europe where country music is more likely to be heard.

[14887fan]

May 8, 2018 8:06:23 GMT -5 Ragin said:

May 8, 2018 6:44:16 GMT -5 desertfloods said:

Shania Twain was a global star. Garth Brooks definitely wasn't. I grew up in Asia and hardly heard of him or his music, unless you specifically looked for country music.

Shania's music on the hand, were played on many main radio stations, albums available everywhere, TV ads etc.

Yes, and I see that window for crossover gone with Carrie. She chose country, and I think the longevity of her career will be the positive result of that.

Disagreed entirely. Oddly enough, her sales and radio trajectory in international markets has only improved with each album. All it takes is a quick peek at her discography page on Wikipedia to see that she’s actively grown and excelled in international markets in the later part of her career, as opposed to the earlier part. With Blown Away, she made her first chart appearances in New Zealand and Scotland, and made her first real impactful move on the charts in Ireland. She also popped up on the radar in Japan, ever so slightly at 101 on their albums chart. With Storyteller, she wound up impacting all of those countries + Belgium, Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden. With “Cry Pretty”’s release, she went to #1 on several other different countries’ all-genre iTunes charts, including Chile & Philippines.

The potential is there, as is the interest. It sounds like this era will be when her team really, really pushes her hard into international markets, so her presence there is more than just the occasional blip on the radar upon song/album debuts.

[Ragin]

Yes, but you are still talking country markets with very small audiences. That isn't a global "superstar" in my book. It just reflects her status in American country music, which will be reflected in countries that listen to it.

Maybe it's splitting hairs, but I just see a big difference between what Shania did and any future for Carrie, which is a good thing IMO, and I like both.

[14887fan]

May 8, 2018 12:33:47 GMT -5 Ragin said:

Yes, but you are still talking country markets with very small audiences. That isn't a global "superstar" in my book. It just reflects her status in American country music, which will be reflected in countries that listen to it.

Maybe it's splitting hairs, but I just see a big difference between what Shania did and any future for Carrie, which is a good thing IMO, and I like both.

Glad your definition of "global superstar" isn't the one that counts to the masses, in that case.

Nobody's saying Carrie is going to do what Shania did. Nobody has done what Shania did. There's only one Shania. Similarly, there's only one Carrie. They can both be "global superstars" in different ways. I don't know why you're so hellbent on making a comparison out of it, as if Shania's way of breaking out internationally is the only way it can be done in order to truly say one is a global star. Times have changed since Shania reigned supreme. 

[Ragin]

I'm just explaining why I expressed surprise at the notion of a global country superstar, that's all. It's extraordinarily rare and a bold claim by her record company. I just think of it as a tad superfluous in a genre where authentic is typically appreciated, or at least used to be.

Excuse me, not superfluous, I meant over the top.

[NeRD]

Honestly, the only reason why I'm so for Carrie going more mainstream is because I believe there are millions of people who have yet to hear her voice, and recognize the amazing talent she is. All about reaching that broader audience to gain that rightful recognition as the best female vocalist of this generation all genre.

But like someone else said, she's already stated her loyalty to country and seems to have no intentions of abandoning it anytime soon so as a fan I gotta respect that.

[tim]

I haven't said much since this song came out other than agreeing that the album artwork comes across as a bit questionable. It's very rare that a music video ever changes my opinion of a song (usually quite the opposite) but this is one exception. I like the execution of it and think the theme is perfect for the song. I was actually reminded of a scene in Pure Country when Dusty says "I stopped singing out there for three bars. Three bars, and nobody even noticed."

The video for "Cry Pretty" turned me into a fan of the song...so maybe her stans shouldn't be so hard on it.

[Ragin]

My main issue with this song is that Carrie acts like Poison hasn't already spoken out on this issue. Of course you can't cry pretty, Poison already knew this.

You gotta cry tough
Out on the streets
To make your dreams happen

Where's the respect, Carrie?

[diego2706]

May 8, 2018 11:26:44 GMT -5 14887fan said:

May 8, 2018 8:06:23 GMT -5 Ragin said:

Yes, and I see that window for crossover gone with Carrie. She chose country, and I think the longevity of her career will be the positive result of that.

Disagreed entirely. Oddly enough, her sales and radio trajectory in international markets has only improved with each album. All it takes is a quick peek at her discography page on Wikipedia to see that she’s actively grown and excelled in international markets in the later part of her career, as opposed to the earlier part. With Blown Away, she made her first chart appearances in New Zealand and Scotland, and made her first real impactful move on the charts in Ireland. She also popped up on the radar in Japan, ever so slightly at 101 on their albums chart. With Storyteller, she wound up impacting all of those countries + Belgium, Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden. With “Cry Pretty”’s release, she went to #1 on several other different countries’ all-genre iTunes charts, including Chile & Philippines.

The potential is there, as is the interest. It sounds like this era will be when her team really, really pushes her hard into international markets, so her presence there is more than just the occasional blip on the radar upon song/album debuts.

I agree with this completely.. i’m from Chile and i think i’m the only citizen in this country who knows her.. i found out about her once watching youtube videos back in her Some Hearts era.. then i remember one time hearing “Good Girl” at a local radio and thought well this is finally gonna happen she’s becoming the next Shania.. but didn’t happen.. she was never even in the itunes charts with any song or album.. but then the label thing happened and suddendly people started reacting.. she got her first ever single in the itunes all-gengre chart and it went to number one for a few hours.. so my point is that maybe the label knows what they’re doing i think they maybe want to go slow and not lose their only chance at making her the global superstar they want her to be.. i think by the time the album comes out we’ll see.

And the other thing you guys have to consider is that people outside of english-speaking countries don’t know the genre.. in fact we don’t even have an itunes category for country music.. and Shania has never been considered a country artists.. she is and was considered pop here in Chile. If the label wants to achieve their goal at least with south america, europe and asia they have to insert the genre in a culture that’s not that involded with country music

[jenglisbe]

May 8, 2018 6:44:16 GMT -5 desertfloods said:

Shania Twain was a global star. Garth Brooks definitely wasn't. I grew up in Asia and hardly heard of him or his music, unless you specifically looked for country music.

Shania's music on the hand, were played on many main radio stations, albums available everywhere, TV ads etc.

Shania also remixed her songs for that global audience, so I don’t consider her being a global country music star.

[matty005]

May 9, 2018 8:23:05 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

May 8, 2018 6:44:16 GMT -5 desertfloods said:

Shania Twain was a global star. Garth Brooks definitely wasn't. I grew up in Asia and hardly heard of him or his music, unless you specifically looked for country music.

Shania's music on the hand, were played on many main radio stations, albums available everywhere, TV ads etc.

Shania also remixed her songs for that global audience, so I don’t consider her being a global country music star.

Shania was a country star. Shania was a global star. If you really want to split hairs that Shania wasn't a, "global country music star," then so be it, but that is REALLY splitting hairs.

[jenglisbe]

May 9, 2018 8:45:38 GMT -5 matty005 said:

May 9, 2018 8:23:05 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

Shania also remixed her songs for that global audience, so I don’t consider her being a global country music star.

Shania was a country star. Shania was a global star. If you really want to split hairs that Shania wasn't a, "global country music star," then so be it, but that is REALLY splitting hairs.

No it’s not, considering the context. The discussion was about whether there are global country stars and whether country music is big in the global market. Shania was brought up as an example of a global country music star, but she didn’t achieve that status with country music. The point being Carrie isn’t going to be a global star if she only makes country music because there isn’t a big international market for country music. I don’t see how that’s splitting hairs.

[Space Cowboy]

I think Carrie/the label's goal is to bring country music to a wider audience around the globe (Carrie may have even mentioned this in the past, though I could be mistaken). I don't think they will be giving her songs pop mixes to be released on other formats and outside of the US like Shania and Taylor did though. Just using her material in its original form to introduce other parts of the world to a genre that they may have been all that familiar with before. That being said, the argument can be made that a lot of Carrie's material isn't as "country" to begin with, as someone like Miranda Lambert per se.

[.indulgecountry]

14887fan pointed out pretty nicely upthread the evidence that suggests Carrie Underwood's music has been increasing in popularity outside of the U.S. and Canada, so I'd say her doing 'just country music' is working out for her so far. I think she'd continue to make dents in other countries charts if her label marketed her more broadly, even without changing her music/style, which has always been very crossover-friendly. The popularity of country music in Europe especially has continued to grow a lot and many stars tour there frequently nowadays because there is definitely an audience for it.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

I had honestly thought Carrie was slipping. None of the singles off her last album made Top 40, and none of them really had any major buzz behind them the way, say, "Blown Away" did.

[jenglisbe]

May 9, 2018 12:34:37 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

14887fan pointed out pretty nicely upthread the evidence that suggests Carrie Underwood's music has been increasing in popularity outside of the U.S. and Canada, so I'd say her doing 'just country music' is working out for her so far. I think she'd continue to make dents in other countries charts if her label marketed her more broadly, even without changing her music/style, which has always been very crossover-friendly. The popularity of country music in Europe especially has continued to grow a lot and many stars tour there frequently nowadays because there is definitely an audience for it.

There's a big difference between "increasing in popularity" and being a "superstar."

[.indulgecountry]

May 9, 2018 17:10:38 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

May 9, 2018 12:34:37 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

14887fan pointed out pretty nicely upthread the evidence that suggests Carrie Underwood's music has been increasing in popularity outside of the U.S. and Canada, so I'd say her doing 'just country music' is working out for her so far. I think she'd continue to make dents in other countries charts if her label marketed her more broadly, even without changing her music/style, which has always been very crossover-friendly. The popularity of country music in Europe especially has continued to grow a lot and many stars tour there frequently nowadays because there is definitely an audience for it.

There's a big difference between "increasing in popularity" and being a "superstar."

And what part of "increasing in popularity" leads you to believe she cannot be a "superstar"?

[Deleted]

May 9, 2018 16:34:47 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

I had honestly thought Carrie was slipping. None of the singles off her last album made Top 40, and none of them really had any major buzz behind them the way, say, "Blown Away" did.

The difference is streaming, and country just doesn't stream as well.

[jenglisbe]

May 9, 2018 17:13:06 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

May 9, 2018 17:10:38 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

There's a big difference between "increasing in popularity" and being a "superstar."

And what part of "increasing in popularity" leads you to believe she cannot be a "superstar"?

In the past 20 years, who is someone who became a global superstar based solely on making country music?