Thread: Thirteen Ways of Looking at Carrie Underwood

thanks vinman and lyrichord for the find.

bear in mind these are the writer's 13 ways of looking at Carrie. so there are some sarcastic remarks about Carrie and other artists (i take it as him trying to be funny). but overall, i think he is pretty complimentary and also compliments her interpretive vocal skills, a skill of Carrie's that i think isnt given enough credit by many

Gonna get Carried away

Arkansas Online
Gonna get Carried away
All-American Idol Carrie Underwood is a force of Nashville

By Werner Trieschmann

Sunday, May 11, 2008

LITTLE ROCK — With apologies to poet Wallace Stevens, here are “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Carrie Underwood.”

I. Carrie Underwood sells tickets. Her show at Alltel Arena tonight is sold out. Josh Turner, the man with the smooth baritone who sounds like Randy Travis and has that “Fire cracker” song, is the opening act. Alltel’s upper deck will be draped with a black curtain, so there were only approximately 6,500 tickets available to bask in Underwood’s golden radiance live and in person. Those tickets are gone. So the show is a sellout though it won’t be a capacity crowd. Underwood isn’t George Strait yet. But she’s only 25 and, then again, who else is?

II. She is eBay’s BFF (best friend forever). Even as you read this, mere hours before the concert, you might still be able to secure Underwood tickets on eBay. This isn’t scalping, of course, because the ticket brokers will also sell you a pen, CD or some other worthless gimcrack. The price? An arm, leg and a precious organ of your choice.

III. Moo-cows love her, too. Underwood has twice been voted the “World’s Sexiest Vegetarian” by the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.

IV. She’ll make for a good Lifetime original movie someday. For a self-professed country singer,modest Checotah, Okla., is about the perfect place to grow up. It sits well on the biography. The town boasts about being the “Steer Wrestling Capital of the World.” It is proud of its antique malls and the Civil War battlefield. Of course, one of the biggest banners on Checotah’s Chamber of Commerce Web site touts hometown hero, Carrie Underwood.

V. Carrie Underwood took the place of Faith Hill. This transformation happened during the 2006 Country Music Awards. Maybe you saw it or maybe you blinked and then saw it later, courtesy of You-Tube. During the dramatic announcement of the Female Artist of the Year that Carrie wins, Hill, then country music’s long-running diva of choice, reacts with an angry “What?!” while staring straight at the camera. The unguarded moment couldn’t have captured the shifting fortunes of the pair any better had Hill interrupted the CMAs to give Underwood a glittering crown and a key to the city of Nashville, Tenn. In the aftermath, Hill went into damage control mode, said she was joking and probably was, but it ultimately didn’t matter. It’s not an accident that from almost precisely that moment Underwood has been in the white hot center of Nashville’s spotlight, while Hill has been more or less pushed to the margins.

VI. When country music executives retire to their mansions and slip beneath their Egyptian cotton sheets, they drift off and dream of finding a singer who is:

young

blond

young

has a big voice

young

compliant

In other words, they dream of Carrie Underwood.

VII. In 2005 Carrie Underwood beat out Bo Bice to win the fourth season of American Idol and declared almost instantly her allegiance to country music. She proved her willingness to play the Nashville game by filling her first CD, Some Hearts, with pop-flavored songs almost entirely written by Nashville’s ready army of songwriters. Some Hearts was an enormous hit, entering the Billboard chart at No. 1, a first for a debut country album. It spun off single after single, not the least of which was the big ol’ revenge song, “Before He Cheats.” Right around the time that Underwood emerged, the economic health of the music industry was going from bad to catastrophic. She seemed like a lifeline.

VIII. Maybe now those even more worried executives are dreaming of a way to clone Carrie Underwood. Perhaps their first success was Taylor Swift.

IX. But Taylor Swift writes her songs. Carrie Underwood only sings the heck out of the ones that have been written for her. Much was made (too much was made) of the fact that for Carnival Ride, Underwood’s second album, the singer had a co-writing credit on four of the 14 total songs. “See,” Nashville seemed to say, “our golden songbird is an artist! She can write songs! She’s not some empty vessel from a puffed-up talent show! Did we mention how young she is ?”

X. Whatever American Idol wants to believe it is - a vocal competition or a popularity contest - it ought to be about the art of singing a song, and the art of singing a song - whether it is penned by the performer after great personal effort or punched up on the karaoke machine - is about communication. Say something funny, say something profound - it doesn’t matter. But say something. American Idol often frustrates because it operates under the general delusion that if you can belt it out like a fifth-generation Mariah Carey (or Barry Manilow version 2.0, in the case of this year’s David Archuleta) that artistry is somehow a given. Of course it isn’t. Goofy Jason Castro and his serviceable but thin voice can say more with even a botched “Mr. Tambourine Man” than Archuleta can with a hundred thousand mushy runs through “Stand By Me.” A voice is an instrument and just because you have one doesn’t mean you know how to play it. Carrie Underwood possesses an enormous voice and that is the reason she won American Idol, but not the reason she’s successful.

XI. Please take out your copy of Carnival Ride and give it a spin. Done? Good. Now can we please agree that this former journalism student (and, yes, she wanted to be a broadcast journalist, but also wrote for Northeastern State University’s school paper) is a freakishly talented communicator. Want your heart crushed by a huge ballad? Try the war widow’s lament “Just a Dream.” Think every “this small town is claustrophobic” tune has been sung to death? “Get Out of This Town” will leap over your defenses. “All-American Girl” is as perky as the title suggests. “Last Name,” which ought to be a hit any day now, is a rollicking, funny song sung by a girl who made a big mistake. Sure, Carnival Ride is a plush machine and our singer (who can also play guitar, by the way) is surrounded by the best musicians money can buy. But take Carrie Underwood out of the equation and you have the latest forgettable album by Trisha Yearwood.

XII. The river is moving. Somebody somewhere is singing the chorus to “Jesus Take the Wheel.”

XIII. Critics are never going to give Underwood a break because she is making arena rock/pop and dares to call it country. Forget for a moment that country music hasn’t been country music since George Jones swore off the bottle. Critics prefer the Merle Haggard-loving, shotgun-wielding Miranda Lambert, who also happens to be a blond beauty and graduated to the big leagues from a TV talent show (Nashville Star). Underwood is somehow seen as anti-authentic and Lambert, who no doubt has a classier record collection than Underwood, is taken as the real deal. Both are making exciting music, which is much easier to enjoy if you ignore the labels. It’s our understanding that with a couple of clicks you can wipe them right off your iTunes player.

Carrie Underwood Opening act: Josh Turner 7:30 p.m. today, Alltel Arena, North Little Rock Admission: show is sold out (501) 975-9000