Post by erik on Oct 7, 2023 20:09:25 GMT -5
Carrie Underwood is in the Pop Music Hits Spotlight this time for a fairly vengeful slice of C&W/pop crossover.
BEFORE HE CHEATS (Carrie Underwood; Arista Nashville: 2005)—Although American Idol has often been disparaged during its television existence, first on Fox and then most recently on ABC, on occasion it has given us winners who have gone on to do very big things in the music business. One such example has been Oklahoma-born country singer Carrie Underwood, who won Idol’s 2005 season, and was signed almost right away by Arista Records’ Nashville division, following her #1 pop hit “Inside Your Heaven”. Since her 2005 debut, Carrie has been, alongside Miranda Lambert (who finished third in another televised voice competition show, Nashville Star in 2003), one of a mere handful of female artists who were able to get any airplay on post-9/11 country radio, a trend that was to continue into the second decade of the 21st century. Carrie’s Idol popularity made it fairly easy for pop audiences to relate to her, but she firmly resisted pressure to release singles that had arrangements for the pop format that were any different from what she released to country radio. One case in point was her second major single, “Before He Cheats”. Basically a “revenge” song about a scorned woman taking it out on a potentially unfaithful boyfriend or husband, “Before He Cheats”, written by Josh Kear and Christ Tompkins, was originally intended for Gretchen Wilson (of “Redneck Woman” fame). Instead, Carrie got her hands on it, and recorded it for her 2005 debut album Some Hearts. Her recording of it maintained the straight country arrangement with prominent fiddle; and unsurprisingly, despite the trend towards all but eliminating those of Carrie’s gender from country radio (something that would explode out into the open in 2015), “Before He Cheats” spent five weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Airplay Chart; and in June 2007, it also reached #8 on the overall Billboard Hot 100. Carrie’s crossover appeal, even with the misogyny of country radio, was to continue; and it would also result in her honoring iconic country-rock songstress Linda Ronstadt at Linda’s 2014 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, followed by another appearance to honor Linda at the Kennedy Center Honors in late 2019.
BEFORE HE CHEATS (Carrie Underwood; Arista Nashville: 2005)—Although American Idol has often been disparaged during its television existence, first on Fox and then most recently on ABC, on occasion it has given us winners who have gone on to do very big things in the music business. One such example has been Oklahoma-born country singer Carrie Underwood, who won Idol’s 2005 season, and was signed almost right away by Arista Records’ Nashville division, following her #1 pop hit “Inside Your Heaven”. Since her 2005 debut, Carrie has been, alongside Miranda Lambert (who finished third in another televised voice competition show, Nashville Star in 2003), one of a mere handful of female artists who were able to get any airplay on post-9/11 country radio, a trend that was to continue into the second decade of the 21st century. Carrie’s Idol popularity made it fairly easy for pop audiences to relate to her, but she firmly resisted pressure to release singles that had arrangements for the pop format that were any different from what she released to country radio. One case in point was her second major single, “Before He Cheats”. Basically a “revenge” song about a scorned woman taking it out on a potentially unfaithful boyfriend or husband, “Before He Cheats”, written by Josh Kear and Christ Tompkins, was originally intended for Gretchen Wilson (of “Redneck Woman” fame). Instead, Carrie got her hands on it, and recorded it for her 2005 debut album Some Hearts. Her recording of it maintained the straight country arrangement with prominent fiddle; and unsurprisingly, despite the trend towards all but eliminating those of Carrie’s gender from country radio (something that would explode out into the open in 2015), “Before He Cheats” spent five weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Airplay Chart; and in June 2007, it also reached #8 on the overall Billboard Hot 100. Carrie’s crossover appeal, even with the misogyny of country radio, was to continue; and it would also result in her honoring iconic country-rock songstress Linda Ronstadt at Linda’s 2014 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, followed by another appearance to honor Linda at the Kennedy Center Honors in late 2019.