Media for Carrie Underwood’s 4th album, Blown Away, is starting to kick into high gear. Check out storyline and lyrical song spoilers from the new album, the identity of the high profile guest on the album plus CONFIRMED international tour plans after the jump.
With the release of Billboard magazine’s new Carrie cover story and Carrie’s new official biography, plus spoilers from country media outlets who are beginning to get access to Blown Away, there’s more and more indications of the musical and lyrical ambition and diversity on Blown Away. From her bio:
Teaming again with producer Mark Bright, Carrie delivers a 14-song collection that covers a particularly vast expanse of emotional territory. She celebrates the understated pleasures of small-town living in “Thank God For Hometowns” and explores the exquisite fragility of life in “Forever Changed.” She’s not averse to tackling abuse and betrayal then doling out a little sweet revenge with such compelling tracks as “Blown Away” and “Two Black Cadillacs.” Musically the songs range from rollicking up-tempo anthems, such as her smash first single “Good Girl” to the island-flavored escape of “One Way Ticket” and the steel guitar-laced country lament of “Wine After Whiskey.”
The revenge theme is going to feature in some key tracks, including the title track:
“I got chills,” Carrie says of the first time she heard the Josh Kear/Chris Tompkins penned stunner. “I remember where I was when I heard it and called my manager and said, ‘Do not let anyone else have this song. It’s my song.’ It’s such a visual song. You listen to it and you can see everything that is happening. It’s so dramatic. I’m not a drama person, but when you can make a movie in song form in 3 and a half minutes, it’s surreal.”
Sony Nashville’s chairman and CEO Gary Overton confirms the mini-movie nature of some of the Blown Away songs, which may explain why the video shoot for “Blown Away” took place over 5 days according to Facebook posts from the video art director (this Carrie twitpic is likely from the video shoot, and this picture definitely is). Billboard reveals a lyric from “Blown Away” which starts with the ominous forecast of stormy weather about to hit an Oklahoma town: “Some people called it taking shelter, She called it taking sweet revenge.” Carrie tells Billboard about the title track:
I’ve never been so excited to hear a demo as I was that one. I got chills…we needed to find things that would fit with this [song], because if I found 13 other tracks that didn’t match with that one, I’d start over and keep that one.”
“Two Black Cadillacs”, a song Carrie cowrote with Josh Kear and Hillary Lindsey seems to fit since her bio describes that one as “the story of a wife and mistress who conspire to get even with the man who betrayed them both”. Hunter Kelly of Premiere Radio Networks describes that track as “deliciously dark”. No wonder Carrie told Rolling Stone magazine:
“I told my producer, ‘You guys need to watch a Mexican soap opera before you come in to start doing this. It just needs to have drama.'”
Then there’s “Cupid’s Got A Shotgun” which Becca Walls of The Country Vibe describes as describes as a “light-hearted ‘Gunpowder & Lead'” and features a Brad Paisley guitar solo:
“Cupid’s Got A Shotgun” is another of the album’s high-energy tracks, and it gets an extra kick from Paisley contributing his signature guitar licks. “Once we got into the studio, I was like, ‘Brad Paisley HAS to play on this. He’ll make the song,’ ” Carrie says of the tune she wrote with Kear and Tompkins. “We left so much space in the song for him to come in and play. He did his thing and sounded awesome. He added that last piece of the puzzle, and it’s just so country. It’s really cool.”
“Blown Away” and “Two Black Cadillacs” have been described by Tammy Ragusa of ABC Radio Networks and Becca Walls as two of the album’s biggest surprises, but the surprises continue with “One Way Ticket”, a song Carrie wrote with Hillary Lindsey and Luke Laird that Billboard describes as “calypso flavored”. Carrie talked to Billboard about the process of tracking the song with studio musicians she describes as “perfectionists”:
“I needed them to make some mistakes, to not be so perfect, or else the song [wasn’t] going to sound genuine. So we brought in margaritas and made them all drink. We didn’t make them, of course-they were more than happy to drink while they were playing. It helped. It gave everybody a looser feel.
On the sentimental side there’s “Forever Changed”, a song cowritten by Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, and James Slater that Billboard describes as a “ballad that follows a woman from her wedding to motherhood to her senior years and a failing memory.” Carrie says: “I had a hard time recording it, and I still have a hard time listening to it” because the song makes her so emotional. Then there’s “Thank God For Hometowns” which Carrie says she heard “when I was going back to my 10-year high school reunion. I listened to the demo when I was driving in to go stay with my parents. It was just very fitting in my heart at that time.”
Blown Away also features some message songs, including “Nobody Ever Told You” which Becca Walls describes as “bouncy with a Paul Simon-ish vibe.” Of that song’s uplifting message Carrie says, “People need to hear compliments more. People need to hear ‘I love you’ more. People need to hear ‘You are beautiful’ more.” Then there’s “Good In Goodbye”, which Carrie cowrote with Hillary Lindsey and Ryan Tedder which features the lyric:
“As bad as it was/As bad as it hurt/I thank God I didn’t get what I thought I deserved.”
Meanwhile, Carrie talks to Billboard about international touring plans. She starts by discussing 2011’s Australia promo tour
“We did a lot of radio stuff, met a lot of people, did some TV. It was basically just to say ‘Hey, thanks for all your support so far.’ There are definite plans to go back to Australia. I don’t want to force anything. I’m busy enough here but if we could open the doors a little wider and include more areas of the globe, that would be pretty awesome.
The senior VP of marketing at Sony Nashville Paul Barnabee says:
“Our international marketing plan for Blown Away has changed from prior releases. Most releases from Nashville are developed here and ‘pushed’ into foreign markets. However this long-awaited release is creating a ‘pull’ into these markets. As a result, we are experiencing great proactiveness from our territories, which allows us to collaborate with them on marketing campaigns at a higher level than ever before.”
Barnabee notes they’ve secured mid-June release dates for Blown Away internationally which will be closer to the US release date while still allowing Carrie to do overseas promo.
One example of that is the scheduled June 18 UK release of Blown Away. Dan Wootton, editor-at-large for Now magazine in the UK tweeted:
Just interviewed @carrieunderwood – one of my favourite American singers. Guess what? She’s finally coming to the UK!
He followed that by saying:
Think all revealed about Carrie Underwood’s UK plans next week. But it’s about time! If you haven’t heard her, first single is Good Girl.
“Good Girl” is currently A-listed on BBC Radio 2.
Check out the full tracklist and songwriting credits for Blown Away here.
Busy times ahead for Carrie! Which tracks from Blown Away are you most excited hear?
