Carrie Underwood - Cry Pretty

The Guardian 40

(Capitol Nashville)

Six albums into her career, Carrie Underwood sometimes seems more like a weaponised expression of modern country’s commercial power than a singer. Even the promotional bumf from her label spends more time dwelling on statistics – albums sold, awards won, streams amassed – than on her music. Mind you, that’s probably wise: Cry Pretty is precisely as interesting as the malls and insanely programmed radio stations where it will be played to death. Cry Pretty’s big “statement” is The Bullet, a song Underwood has apparently been considering for inclusion on several albums, using it this time in response to the Las Vegas mass shooting of last year.