You Better Get to Getting on Your Goodbye Shoes

With American Idol and The Voice (and its laughably bad finalists) wind down another season, the start of Duets later this month and all the other singing competitions that have come and gone the past decade, it is easy to remember with all these shows, there have only been two successful winners from any of these show, Kelly Clarkson, who has been making the reality rounds this year on two different show, and Carrie Underwood. Sure Underwood would probably never win a singing competition on the radio, but she has a quality that just draws you in even when you know you should not like her music.

Like most Carrie Underwood albums, after the first listen to Blown Away it is striking as to how boring and bland it is, even more so than her previous albums. Yet by the second listen it has already become mostly catchy. And much like her previous albums, the new one straddles the line between country and adult contemporary which is moving more and more to the latter with every passing album. Just how pop-rock is the new album? There is a song, See You Again that blatantly steals the “ohh ohh ohh” part from Laura Branigan’s eighties classic Self Control. But It is hard not to be disappointed in the one song on the album written by Hair-Metal master “Mutt” Lang Who Are You which attempts to being an uplifting power ballad but fails massively.

Strangely for someone who is not much of a pure country fan, some of the most entertaining tracks are the few most traditionally country sounding ones. One Way Ticket is a fun sitting on your porch with friends and sing along kind of song (which is ironic considering the song is about getting off your butt). While Cupid’s Got a Shotgun is so absurd it starts becoming entertaining. But the best song on the album is the title track where Carrie goes big and succeeds. She really needs to ditch the overtly sappy songs and record more like Blown Away in the future.

And what Carrie Underwood album would be complete without an absurdly sappy song for country radio, so be sure to be prepared to hear Thank God for Hometowns in heavy rotation in the near future for those that still listen to the radio. Wine After Whiskey is no slouch in the so over the top cheesy you have to roll your eyes department.

Song to Download – Blown Away

Blown Away gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.