Carrie Underwood's 'Play On': Track-by-track - Idol Chatter: American Idol News, Rumors, & Information
Reviewing Carrie Underwood's Play On in Tuesday's USA TODAY, Jerry Shriver writes, "On her third outing, the still-blossoming Idol alum with the sterling pipes invites a diverse handful of outsiders to join her proven Nashville-based songwriting/production team. They expand her sound and worldview just enough to perhaps lure more folks to the party while satisfying country radio programmers and her loyalists." Since I did the interview pieces that ran in Monday's paper, I didn't write the official Play On review -- but that doesn't mean I can't run down the album track-by-track for you guys.
Cowboy Casanova (Carrie Underwood/Mike Elizondo/Brett James). This isn't my favorite track on the album, but I totally get why it's the album's lead track and first single. Before Carrie ever sings a note, Cowboy Casanova announces that something different is going on with country's sweetheart. Written with Jesus, Take the Wheel co-writer Brett James and hip-hop bassist/producer Mike Elizondo, it's just far enough beyond a Last Name to let people know that Carrie's laying claim to additional music turf for herself. Musically, hard dance-pop groove makes me think of what a Shania Twain might be doing if she showed up now with a producer other than Mutt Lange -- it's got that well, yeah, it's country, but ... sound. Plus, it's catchy as all get-out.
Quitter (Max Martin/Shellback/Savan Kotecha). Speaking of producers other than Mutt Lange ... This is the one written and produced by Swedish producer Max Martin, who has worked with Kelly Clarkson, as well as Pink, Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, etc. Structurally, it sounds just like a typically bright, bouncy Max Martin production, just with mandolins and steel guitars substituted for his synthesizers (though there are a few of those in there, too). Still, Martin finds ways of making the country instrumentation sound very different from Nashville producers -- he gets an absolutely magical effect by doubling the mandolin and steel during the solo break near the end of the song. This track only begins to suggest what kind of country records Martin could make, and I hope somebody runs with this idea, whether it's Carrie or another singer. I'd love this track to be a single, but there's enough strong material here that it might not make the cut.
Mama's Song (Carrie Underwood/Kara DioGuardi/Marti Frederiksen/Luke Laird). Never one to stray too far too long, Carrie reels things back in for this ballad, which is almost sure to be a single at some point. Noting that most family-focused wedding songs deal with the daddy-daughter bonds, Carrie decided to write about what a daughter might say to her mother ("He's never gonna leave, so don't you worry about me"). It's hard to listen to this song without thinking, "You know, Carrie's been dating that Mike Fisher for about a year now, and he seems like a nice young man ..."), but Carrie's quick to note that this song was written as Kara DioGuardi was planning her wedding -- and without her mother, who passed away in 1997. Other writers on the song are Last Name/So Small co-writer Luke Laird and Marti Frederiksen, whose hits include Buckcherry's Sorry. By this point, Carrie has used three very different types of tracks -- Cowboy Casanova, Quitter and Mama's Song -- to create the parameters for the album, and she's given herself a lot of room to play.
Change (Katrina Elam/Josh Kear/Chris Tompkins). The album's first inspirational message (Do you believe that small actions have the potential to change the world in big ways?) comes from the songwriting team that brought you Before He Cheats, with Katrina Elam, the country singer who originally sang Carnival Ride's Flat on the Floor. It's a money-note ballad that pulls out all the emotional stops, including bringing in a big string arrangement.
Undo It (Carrie Underwood/Kara DioGuardi/Marti Frederiksen/Luke Laird). The Mama's Song songwriting team returns. The little stutter vocal in the chorus -- "I wanna uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-undo it" -- is one of several places on Play On that suggest the smallest hip-hop influence, which in this case, Carrie says, came from Kara. The na-na-na's are Carrie's. "I love na-na-nas," she told me. "I'll put 'em in every song, if you don't watch me." I knew there was something about her I liked.
Someday When I Stop Loving You (Hillary Lindsey/Steve McEwan/Gordie Sampson). A complete change of pace from Undo It, this lovely ballad comes from the crew that wrote Just a Dream. It's one of those songs where you can tell just how much Carrie likes Martina McBride.
Songs Like This (Marty Dodson/Jerry Flowers/Tom Shapiro). Key line: "If it wasn't for guys like you, there wouldn't be songs like this." This one jumped out at me the first time I heard Play On, and not just because I was looking for it. It starts with a Keith Urban-like triplet banjo pattern (co-writer Flowers is Urban's bassist) underpinned by a Single Ladies-style J-stepping groove, but when the chorus hits, all heck breaks loose. The instrumental bridge ups the ante again -- it sounds like the country version of something that belongs on a Cheap Trick record. Co-writer Dodson also write Kenny Chesney's Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven; Shapiro is a Nashville songwriting institution whose chart-topping hits range from Lorrie Morgan's Watch Me to Keith Urban's You Look Good in My Shirt. I admit I'm biased (I've known Dodson since we were kids), but I flat-out love this track. I'm thinking third single, following a ballad.
Temporary Home (Carrie Underwood/Luke Laird/Zac Maloy). We've gone into some detail on this song in previous posts, so I won't go too much into its very interesting history. It has a fairly common structure for sentimental country songs, with three verses that illuminate the chorus -- "This is my temporary home/It's not where I belong" -- in different ways. Think Steve Wariner's Holes in the Floor of Heaven. Boyfriend Mike Fisher suggested the song title from a devotional study he and Carrie were doing on Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life. I still think she should've given him a songwriting credit.
A likely single.
This Time (Hillary Lindsey/Steve McEwan/Gordie Sampson). A quiet song with a bit of tempo and a shuffling groove that suggests romantic anticipation: "I wanna tell ya/That my heart is busting at the seams, yeah/And I can't wait another minute." I don't know that it's a stand-out song, but I love the way it sounds -- probably because of the harmonies and Mike Johnson's splendid steel-guitar work.
Look at Me (Jim Collins/Paul Overstreet). Written by a couple of well-established Nashville songwriters (Collins wrote Kenny Chesney's The Good Stuff and She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy, Overstreet is a legend whose hits include Randy Travis' On the Other Hand and Forever and Ever, Amen), this is Play On's I Told You So. Vince Gill sings harmonies on the chorus. Possible single, which could immediately place it in contention for Vocal Event of the Year awards.
Unapologize (Carrie Underwood/Hillary Lindsey/Chantal Kreviazuk/Raine Maida). Carrie blurts out romantic feelings then, embarrassed, says, "I'm sorry." Upon further reflection, she takes her apology -- "I unapologize." Written with Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk and her husband, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, this one's got a keyboard-driven AC country-pop sound. For my money, it settles a little too easily for cliches (I was pouring out my heart like a waterfall to you/And with one kiss I was a runaway train") and tries too hard in coining the term "unapologize." But maybe that's just the grammarian in me.
What Can I Say (Featuring Sons of Sylvia) (Carrie Underwood/David Hodges/Steve McEwan). Who are Sons of Sylvia, and how did they get this gig? Apparently, they're the latest incarnation of the family group formerly known as the Clark Family Experience and, on Fox's The Next Great American Band, as the Clark Brothers. Ashley Clark has played fiddle in Carrie's band. It's a big-melody ballad, co-written with former Evanescence member David Hodges, who's now one of the go-to songwriters for Idols of all stripes.
Play On (Carrie Underwood/Natalie Hemby/Luke Laird). This is sort of Carrie's version of Martina McBride's Anyway. With lyrics like "Play on/When you're losing the game/Play on/'Cause you're gonna make mistakes," I think it would make an even better American Idol send-off song than Carrie's Home Sweet Home cover. Hint, hint.
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