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Music > Reviews > Carrie Underwood By Joshua O'NeillFrom the first few slicked-up yet grungy electric guitar chords, we know we’re in for more of the same: angry bad-boyfriend songs and gelatinous ballads, a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, everything sounding very, very expensive. The writing is insanely professional, and each track is so thoroughly baited with hooks it’s hard to hear the song underneath. Play On is a focus-group pop album, a hothouse flower, bioengineered at great cost to thrive on S.U.V. radios and in the endless replay of tweenage iTunes. But there’s no great single to be found, so instead it withers and dies. “Cowboy Casanova”, the catchy opening single, is an icy kiss-off to a phony dive-bar Romeo, and it sort of works, as far as it goes. Why? I’m not sure, precisely. This album adheres so slavishly to its (admittedly proven) formula that it’s awfully hard to tell what, exactly, the difference between the good songs and bad songs are, since they all sound pretty much the same. So you’ll have to take my word for it when I say that “Cowboy Casanova”, while foot-tapping and high-spirited, lacks the elemental power of the towering single “Before He Cheats”, a very similar rocking pseudo-feminist guilty pleasure, Underwood’s greatest achievement to date, a radio monster that demanded to be turned up. An album like this needs exactly one of those to be a success. Play On is a failure. It’s not all unremittingly awful; generally, all the faux-shitkicking glossy country Bon Jovi stuff is half-way listenable. But brother, do the ballads ever stink. Underwood apparently has no volume knob—she can belt angrily over polished electric guitars or she can belt sweetly over swooning strings. She blows all of her incredibly tenuous feminist credentials on “Mama’s Song”, which finds her saying, essentially, “Mom, you don’t have to take care of me anymore because I found a man to do it instead”. On “Change”, she harangues us tunefully about being a bunch of jerks for not giving more money to charities and panhandlers. “Temporary Home” is a disgustingly manipulative ballad about orphans, single moms, and old sick people, and how it’s okay that their lives are awful because soon they’ll die and go up to heaven and get to play badminton with Jesus forever and ever. The slow songs on the album have, collectively, the emotional depth of a banana-walnut pancake. They will brook no sadness that can’t be instantly transformed into hopeful triumph by a hooky chorus and a multi-tracked vocal. “Someday When I Stop Loving You” is the sole exception. It’s not a particularly good song, a by-the-numbers countrypolitan weeper, but by sheer virtue of being legitimately sad it’s incredibly refreshing, a break from the stridently, almost obnoxiously inspirational tone of the record. Underwood can’t sell it, though—she sings it like she’s back on American Idol, and the song is nothing but a showcase for her killer pipes. Underneath the everywoman hard-knock posturing, Underwood is a first-place finisher (this was proven on national television); she’s got no idea what to do with a song about losing. And if you’re not ready to lose, maybe country music isn’t the place for you. But back to the bread and butter: “Songs Like This” is a fairly solid track, another in Underwood’s endless array of kiss-offs to bad boyfriends, building to a nice turn of phrase in the chorus. (“If it wasn’t for guys like you, there wouldn’t be songs like this”.) The rocker “Undo It” is probably the best thing on the album, despite being pretty much a wholesale rip-off of Lucinda Williams’ “Joy”. We’re back into Carrie’s comfort zone here—outside of her looks and her large vocal range, kicking creeps to the curb seems to be her main talent in life. (What does it say about our culture that our most populist female stars [i.e., Idol winners] seem to find their greatest successes, artistically and commercially, in revenge songs?) Play On is definitely not good, not horrifyingly bad, and precisely what you imagine it to be. There’s no great single, nothing that even approaches the awesome “Before He Cheats” or half of the stuff that Kelly Clarkson’s been putting out. It’s not going to happen, but it’d be awfully nice if Underwood would look to people like the aforementioned Lucinda Williams—a bad-ass independent woman who isn’t afraid to show her vulnerability or her sense of humor—as more than a source of pilfered tunes. She needs to start looking around for somewhere to borrow a personality. — 24 November 2009
 Related ArticlesThe Best Country Music of 2007By Roger Holland14.Dec.07 Whatever your taste in music, be it Country or Western, 2007 has been something of a disappointment when compared with recent years. You have to look a little harder to find the diamonds in the Van Lear coal-mine that was the year that was, but they're there. The Best Pop-Country of 2007By Josh Timmermann14.Dec.07 Purists may turn up their noses at pop-country, but it produced more top-shelf music this past year than the stricter formal traditions on which it draws. 
Carrie Underwood: Carnival RideBy Josh Timmermann08.Nov.07 Carrie Underwood will probably never record a better song than "Before He Cheats", but she comes closer than you'd expect on her superb sophomore effort. |
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Comments
I have to say, this is one of the worst reviews on the site. It’s unfair, biased, petty - all the things wrong with reviews these days. I might just buy another copy because of this review.
Comment by Matt — November 24, 2009 @ 1:42 am
I haven’t listened to this record as I am not really a fan of this kind of music. The review is overwhelmingly negative, but then you say “Play On is definitely not good, not horrifyingly bad, and precisely what you imagine it to be.” That sentence seems to counterbalance a lot of the negativity of the review, which then makes it hard to understand the extremely low score. Am I wrong?
Comment by Bob — November 24, 2009 @ 7:03 am
Yes, I also thought the rating was low. It sounded like a 4 review at least. I’m fine with differing opinions, but to me the reviewer didn’t listen with an open mind. “Mama’s Song” is very touching. “Temporary Home” at least provides some hope for those who have no hope. Also, I don’t understand how the reviewer wanted Carrie’s vocals to sound. She shows welcome restraint on the gorgeous “Someday When I Stop Loving You” and shows off her vocals when appropriate. Finally, I think “Quitter” and “Songs Like This” are every bit the songs “Before He Cheats” is. She can’t have a whole career based on one song.
Comment by Matt — November 24, 2009 @ 11:21 am
Well I guess it’s not so much that the negativity is counterbalanced by the sentence, but rather, that the sentence itself kind of doesn’t fit the mood of the rest of the review. If anything, a 2 makes it seem like the album really is horrifyingly bad. On another note, I agree that “Temporary Home” is disgustingly manipulative.
Comment by Bob — November 24, 2009 @ 11:50 am
I do think “Change” is overly preachy; it simplifies the problem too much. Overall, though, I think the album is just as good as Some Hearts is. 8/10 from me.
Comment by Matt — November 24, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
Thanks for all the responses, guys. Bob, you’re probably right—the rating was a bit low. A 3 or even 4 might have been warranted. But honestly, I don’t worry about the numerical scores much—grading music with points doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. And I stand by everything I said in the review—there are a handful of terrible songs, a handful of decent songs, and not one great single.
Matt, out of curiosity, what did you find biased or petty about my review? We obviously disagree on the album’s merits, but isn’t that half the fun? I went into this thing with an open mind—I really do think that “Before He Cheats” was one of the best songs of its year. This one just didn’t do it for me.
Comment by Joshua O'Neill — November 25, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
What a bogus review! You must be a Taylor Swift Fan, and she can’t even sing her way out of a paper bag! lol
The album is incredible, from the amazing kick ass Cowboy Casanova to the beautiful Someday When I stop Loving you.
You clearly just do not like Carrie as a person, so you trash her in a biased and personal way.
You have never met Carrie have you? I bet you never saw her in concert either, when she rocks. She has a great personality, and it is unfair for you to bash her for her personality when you never even met her.
Great Album! Terrible review. Go Carrie!
Comment by CarrieRocks — December 4, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
You have to be a Taylor Swift fan because you don’t seem to know the good songs from the bad ones. Carrie is one of the best singers and she has the best personality of todays singers. You have down every song on her new album, but have you listened carefully to the words? I dare you down the song “Mama’s Song”...saying that she doesn’t need her mama anymore now that she has a man to take care of her. Carrie has managed well on her own without her mother or a man. Yes, I am a Carrie fan, but I also like other singers too and Taylor Swift isn’t one of them.
Comment by Shirl from Texas — December 5, 2009 @ 9:26 am
Why are you even mentioning Taylor Swift here? You do the same thing, dissing her. I really really do like Taylor and I love Carrie. But you just can’t please everyone.
I think Play On is a really outstanding album with tons of emotion. I agree that Temporary Home is no Jesus, Take The Wheel but for me Cowboy Casanova is just amazing. My favourite song on the album is Undo It, which brings out a lot of anger and regret. It helps, cuz I think a lot of people can relate to it.
Quitter, This Time, Unapologize and Songs Like This are also very strong tracks for me. What Can I Say is just awesome! Change may be a bit cheesy but it sounds really nice. Temporary Home and Someday When I Stop Loving You are also beautiful ballads.
Mama’s Song may have nice lyrics, but I don’t really like the song. Play On is just an average song, I don’t really care for it. And Look At Me is really loved by a lot of fans, however it’s just too much of the ballads I think.
She should’ve put 2-3 more upbeat country songs on the album. 8/10 from me for the album. It’s definitely better than Carnival Ride.
And I don’t agree with the revenge thing either… she’s not planning on burning down the ex’s house or shooting him. She’s not Miranda Lambert, lol. However I love her too. :)
Comment by regina from Hungary — December 8, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
Let me confess first that I am a Carrie Underwood fan, so if I’m a bit biased, please point it out, thanks.
Personally, I think this is her weakest album yet (despite being her most personal), though in my opinion, “Undo It” and “Songs Like This” are one of the worst songs on the album (Carrie keeps trying to go back to the Before He Cheats era). Sure, she reins in her vocals a little bit, but that isn’t enough to save the loose songwriting that bogs down most of the album (Mama’s Song, Play On, Unapologize…)
A pretty fair review, though. My favourite line:
” The slow songs on the album have, collectively, the emotional depth of a banana-walnut pancake.”
(Though I think Someday When I stop Loving You and Look At Me are great songs)
Comment by Joseph from singapore — December 8, 2009 @ 8:04 pm
Wow.. the rating was too low, hrg.. but readers, why mention Taylor Swift’s name? I mean why compare the two then bash Swift? This is an album review hrg.
Comment by kerwin — January 23, 2010 @ 5:14 am