Album Details

• Artist: Carrie Underwood
• Album: Blown Away
• Label: Sony Nashville/Arista
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: carlita on 2012-05-14

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Showered with awards since she emerged on the pop country scene after winning the fourth cycle of "American Idol", don't think anyone doubted that Carrie Underwood had "it". Watching clips of her singing "I'll Stand By You", "Love Is A Battlefield" and "Bless the Broken Road" with Rascal Flatts, I knew she was destined to be a pop princess.  Good looks, humble roots and a strong voice born for crossover appeal = superstar. Asking Jesus to "take the wheel" leading her life as a "GCB" (Good Christian Belle), she later shows some fire, singing about bashing in lights on a cheater's car (check out her hilarious parody with Jimmy Kimmel about it) and steering clear of a Don Juan Casanova who will give you "candy coated misery".  After 14 million albums sold, tons of designer gowns and a bunch of teen zit cleanser commercials later, what would lie ahead on Blown Away? Would she continue to project the image of a small-town country girl with nicer clothes?

Listening to Blown Away, Carrie treads on familiar pop/adult contemporary territory as Play On did, denouncing cheating and giving women advice to avoid the bad boys on Good Girl and Two Cadillacs. One might wonder why would a girl with the "perfect life" write about sadness and darkness but as she explained on Kimmel last week, "no one wants to hear about that stuff", implying that sheer happiness is not sellable in the country market. Agreed and point taken. However, there are some positive songs on the record like Who Are You, One Way Ticket (with Bobby McFerrin island flavor), No One Ever Told You and a tongue in cheek take on love, Cupid's Got A Shotgun. For those questioning her country authenticity after pop stardom, she answers back with Thank God for Hometowns (my favorite song on the album) and Leave Love Alone. Straddling the pop country line as a seasoned expert, more CMAs and Grammys are bound to follow because Carrie "shines like a diamond, glitters like gold".

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