Prior to the release of her fourth album, Blown Away, in the spring of 2012, Carrie Underwood claimed that she was getting back to having "real things to write about and real things to sing about" -- a sentiment that's all well and good but has precisely nothing to do with the brassy blowout of the finished product. Dispensing with any pretense that Underwood remains a down-home country girl -- the kind who takes carnival rides and sticks a daisy in her hair -- Blown Away is an unabashed glossy pop album, positioning Carrie as the heir to Shania Twain and Faith Hill's country diva act, pushing the comparisons so far that she looks like a runway refugee on the album cover and she concludes the hourlong marathon with a song written by Twain's former husband, Mutt Lange. Naturally, this showstopping act suits a former American Idol winner but, better still, this exercise in turn-of-the-millennium nostalgia is executed with skill and savvy, offering the kind of larger-than-life power ballads and cheerful, clomping arena country that have fallen out of favor in the early days of the 2010s. Not that Underwood and team -- led by producer Mark Bright and also featuring songwriters Ashley Gorley, Chris DeStefano, Josh Kear, Hillary Lindsey, and Ryan Tedder -- are ignorant of the country and pop trends of 2012. They find room for light, sunny pop ("Do You Think About Me," "Nobody Ever Told You"), a bit of Caribbean breeze on "One Way Ticket," and a stomping chant-along hook on "Leave Love Alone," and they splice Miranda Lambert and Gretchen Wilson together on the ludicrously fun "Cupid's Got a Shotgun," which is enough to make Blown Away not seem like a throwback even if its heart belongs to the days of diamond-certified albums. Sure, that diva worship makes it seem ever so slightly old-fashioned, yet this is Carrie's wheelhouse -- she's meant to sing these oversized ballads and hooks, she's meant to look as unattainable as she does on the cover. She's meant to be be a superstar and she's never seemed as comfortable with her calling as she does on Blown Away.Prior to the release of her fourth album, Blown Away, in the spring of 2012, Carrie Underwood claimed that she was getting back to having "real things to write about and real things to sing about" -- a sentiment that's all well and good but has precisely nothing to do with the brassy blowout of the finished product. Dispensing with any pretense that Underwood remains a down-home country girl -- the kind who takes carnival rides and sticks a daisy in her hair -- Blown Away is an unabashed glossy pop album, positioning Carrie as the heir to Shania Twain and Faith Hill's country diva act, pushing the comparisons so far that she looks like a runway refugee on the album cover and she concludes the hourlong marathon with a song written by Twain's former husband, Mutt Lange. Naturally, this showstopping act suits a former American Idol winner but, better still, this exercise in turn-of-the-millennium nostalgia is executed with skill and savvy, offering the kind of larger-than-life power ballads and cheerful, clomping arena country that have fallen out of favor in the early days of the 2010s. Not that Underwood and team -- led by producer Mark Bright and also featuring songwriters Ashley Gorley, Chris DeStefano, Josh Kear, Hillary Lindsey, and Ryan Tedder -- are ignorant of the country and pop trends of 2012. They find room for light, sunny pop ("Do You Think About Me," "Nobody Ever Told You"), a bit of Caribbean breeze on "One Way Ticket," and a stomping chant-along hook on "Leave Love Alone," and they splice Miranda Lambert and Gretchen Wilson together on the ludicrously fun "Cupid's Got a Shotgun," which is enough to make Blown Away not seem like a throwback even if its heart belongs to the days of diamond-certified albums. Sure, that diva worship makes it seem ever so slightly old-fashioned, yet this is Carrie's wheelhouse -- she's meant to sing these oversized ballads and hooks, she's meant to look as unattainable as she does on the cover. She's meant to be be a superstar and she's never seemed as comfortable with her calling as she does on Blown Away.false2024-01-06 04:48:19Blown Away20122012-05-012012-05-0156CountryCountry RockPopPop RockRockContemporary Country111909211521074984967-13c7-497b-9845-1abf56b70fab70f0e309-5418-49b6-a130-666e2f76eecd35c692f5-3e8a-4d60-b474-9d115e17389aCarrie UnderwoodAlbumArtist/config/metadata/People/C/Carrie Underwood/folder.jpgCarrie UnderwoodArtist/config/metadata/People/C/Carrie Underwood/folder.jpgCarrie UnderwoodCarrie UnderwoodCarrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Underwood's single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the first country artist to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the only solo country artist in the 2000s to have a number-one song on the Hot 100. Her debut album, Some Hearts (2005), was bolstered by the successful crossover singles "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Before He Cheats", becoming the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history. She won three Grammy Awards for the album, including Best New Artist. The next studio album, Carnival Ride (2007) had one of the biggest opening weeks of all time by a female artist and won two Grammy Awards. Her third studio album, Play On (2009), produced the single "Cowboy Casanova", which had one of the biggest single-week upward movements on the Hot 100.
She achieved the second best-selling release by a woman in 2012 and won a Grammy Award with her fourth album, Blown Away (2012). Her compilation Greatest Hits: Decade #1 (2014) spawned the crossover single "Something in the Water". Her fifth studio album, Storyteller (2015), made her the only country artist to have all first five studio albums reach either numbers one or two on the Billboard 200 chart. With her sixth album, Cry Pretty (2018), she became the only woman to top the Billboard 200 with four country albums and had the biggest week for any album by a woman in 2018. She released her first Christmas project, My Gift, in 2020, and first gospel collection, My Savior, in 2021. Her 2022 studio album, Denim & Rhinestones, marked a return to her country pop sound.
Underwood has sold 85 million records worldwide. She is the tenth highest-certified female artist and the highest-certified female country artist of all time on the RIAA's Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking, also being the female artist with the most number-one entries (16) on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. Her accolades include eight Grammy Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, 17 American Music Awards, five Guinness World Records and inductions into the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry. Billboard ranked her the top female country artist of the 2000s and 2010s, and Some Hearts the top country album of the 2000s. Rolling Stone applauded her as "the female vocalist of her generation in any genre", Time listed her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014 and Forbes declared her the most successful American Idol winner. Outside of music, Underwood has ventured into fashion and writing, releasing her fitness clothing line CALIA by Carrie in 2015 and the New York Times best-selling fitness and lifestyle book Find Your Path in 2020.