Thread: Carrie Underwood's Country 'Heart'

http://www.pluggedinonline.com/thisw...y/a0002442.cfm

Carrie Underwood, a down-home 22-year-old girl from Checotah, Okla., outlasted more than 100,000 competitors to win last season's American Idol. She's already been on nearly every magazine cover and talk-show set around. And fans were fond enough of her to snatch up more than 300,000 copies of her debut album, Some Hearts, during its first week in stores.

Carrie's unique claim on fame isn't that she's accomplished all those things, though. (Others have done so, too.) It's that she's the first Idol star to achieve crossover success in both pop and country markets. Her heart—and voice—is country or bust. Her TV experience and management automatically qualify her as a popster. (She's guided by Idol creator Simon Fuller, the monolithic force behind such acts as the Spice Girls, Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken.) Even Idol judge Simon Cowell—who's notoriously anti-country—predicted she'd sell more records than any previous winner.

There's No Place Like Home

That's no small feat. But judging by the songs on Some Hearts (which opened at the No. 2 spot on Billboard's Top 200), Carrie's not thinking much about album sales. Instead, she's getting a little homesick and finding it hard to adjust to all the bright lights. On "I Ain't in Checotah Anymore" she admits, "All the paparazzi flashin' can make a girl feel pretty good/ ... [But] I'm in a world so wide/It makes me feel small sometimes."

Even more refreshing, this farm-girl-gone-to-the-city keeps an upbeat, determined outlook despite her struggles with being away from home ("Don't Forget to Remember Me") and the occasional broken heart ("The Night Before (Life Goes On)"). "All the things that break you are the things that make you strong," she sings on the soaring pop tune "Lessons Learned." "There's a blue horizon somewhere up ahead just waiting for me" ("Starts With Goodbye").

Taking the Higher Road

Indeed, positive messages abound on this heavily produced debut. "Tiny graces" become the "biggest things" that bring contentment on "That's Where It Is." Characters on "Wasted"—which doesn't celebrate drunkenness—muster up the nerve to get off the low roads they're on and step up onto the high road with a carpe diem approach to life.

The brightest moment comes via "Jesus, Take the Wheel," which features a young mother driving a little too carelessly both on the road and in life. As she escapes a near-accident, she recommits her life to God, praying, "I'm sorry for the way I've been livin' my life/I know I've got to change/So from now on tonight ... Jesus, take the wheel/Take it from my hands/'Cause I can't do this on my own/I'm letting go/Give me one more chance/Save me from this road I'm on."

Released as the album's first single, the song is an unveiled description of biblical repentance—though Carrie isn't exactly touting revival just yet. "I'm not preaching," she states. "It's just a beautiful song I figured a lot of people could relate to whether they believe in God or not. Everybody has a time in their life when they needed help with something."

There'll Be Bumps Along the Way

For Carrie, that help came through the flock of established songwriters offering her their talents. Not that their assistance was always a good thing, given the album's few but noticeable snags. A couple of tunes include alcohol and smoking references. And "Before He Cheats" finds a girl getting revenge on a cheating ex by keying the side of his vehicle, carving her name into his leather seats, smashing headlights and slashing tires. She also calls his new flame a drunken "tramp" while commenting on his chances to "get lucky" with the girl.

It's quite a contrast to Carrie's squeaky-clean image—so much so that she offers a disclaimer on her Web site: "I decided to sing it because I think that everyone has a 'mean streak,' and the character in the song has a very large one. I would like to say, however, that I do not condone the destruction of anyone's property and I have never, at any time, keyed anyone's car."

Maybe not, but does that make it OK to tout it through song? So far, it's the first obviously questionable decision Carrie's made in her young career. In the midst of a hounding media hungry for the next pretty young thing, she's stood her moral ground. "I don't ever want to 'sex things up,'" she says. "In 10 years, I want to be the same person I am right now. ... I hope I never forget where I came from!" So do her fans.