Blown Away is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Carrie Underwood. It was released on May 1, 2012, by Arista Nashville. After finishing her successful Play On Tour in December 2010 to promote her third studio album Play On, Underwood started working on the album, but took her time as she wanted to change things up, and needed to step away from the "celebrity bubble" to "have real things to write about and to sing about". It took her over one year to finish the album, which, according to Underwood, ended up having a "darker storyline" than her previous efforts.
Met with mostly positive reviews from music critics, the album became a commercial success; it debuted at number one on Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 267,000 copies, achieving the third-largest opening of 2012. Underwood became the third female to chart at number one on the Billboard 200 with three country albums, tying her with Linda Ronstadt and Faith Hill. Like her three previous albums, Blown Away debuted at the top of the Top Country Albums chart. The album remained at number one for a second week on the Billboard 200, becoming her first album to spend more than one week at the top of that chart. It topped the "Top Country Albums" chart for seven weeks.
After Underwood's Play On Tour ended in December 2010, she started to work on her then-upcoming fourth studio album. Underwood took her time working on Blown Away; she stated that she "wanted to change things up", and needed to step away from the "celebrity bubble" to "have real things to write about and real things to sing about".[1]Sony Music Nashville chairman and CEO, Gary Overton said that the singer "took nearly a year to compile and record the songs".[2] Songwriters Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear wrote "Blown Away" and sent it to Underwood.[3] She loved the song and recorded it, and named her album Blown Away, since the name was the song that defined the album's darker direction.[4] She then started writing material with several songwriters, including Hillary Lindsey and Kear.[5] Underwood said that writing "Two Black Cadillacs" with Lindsey and Kear was "so much fun", explaining that they entered the session without knowing what to expect or where it would lead.[6]
Underwood also noted that the album would contain material that is different from her previous efforts, since stating that Blown Away features songs with a "darker storyline".[7] She further said she wasn't trying to impress people with what she could do, and she didn't "have to sing to the moon with every single song" with this project.[8] The lead single, "Good Girl", is said to be the album's most upbeat track,[9] with the other tracks that create a much darker record.[10] Ashley Gorley explained that the song came together while he was working in Los Angeles with Chris DeStefano, when Underwood's management suggested the three collaborate. He said that although he had written with each of them separately before, bringing them together proved to be "a great combination".[11]
Composition
Blown Away is a pop album that frames Underwood within a lineage of crossover country performers such as Shania Twain and Faith Hill.[12]
Promotion
With the release of her highly anticipated fourth album, Underwood made numerous television, radio, and online appearances. On April 29, 2012, Underwood was featured on Nightline,[13] and a day after, Good Morning America aired an exclusive interview. Later that evening, Underwood performed "Good Girl" on Late Show with David Letterman as well as holding a concert on the Live on Letterman webcast concert series streaming live online.[14] On May 1, Underwood returned to Good Morning America to perform a special live outdoor concert in Times Square,[15][16] followed by an iHeartRadio Live performance streaming live online that evening.[17] Underwood appeared on American Idol on May 3 with a special performance of the title track from her album.[18] Underwood also made appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on May 9,[19][20]Jimmy Kimmel Live! on May 10,[21] and Dancing with the Stars on May 15,[22][23] followed by the Billboard Music Awards on May 20.[24] On May 26, she headlined at Bayou Country Superfest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, performing several new songs from the album.[25]
Singles and sales
The first single from the album, "Good Girl" was first teased on January 25, 2012, with Underwood describing it as "blow you guys away".[26][9] The song was leaked on two days before of its release, on February 21.[27] It was released on February 23,[26] and the music video for the track premiered on March 12.[28][29][30] Commercially, "Good Girl" debuted at number thirty on the Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and number twenty-four on Billboard Hot 100.[31] The song eventually climbed to a peak of eighteen on the Hot 100,[32] and it topped at the Hot Country Songs[33] and Canada Country chart.[34] Furthermore, the track has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA and Platinum by Music Canada.[35][36] "Blown Away" was released on July 9, as the second single from the album.[37] Before its official release, the song charted at number 66 on the Hot 100 and number 49 on the Hot Country Songs. It also reached a peak of number twenty and two, respectively. The track became Underwood's 16th number one single when it topped the Country Airplay chart, also being her first song to chart in the UK Singles Chart where it reached 155. "Blown Away" was certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA and Platinum by the CRIA.
The third single of the album, "Two Black Cadillacs", was released on November 18, 2012.[38] The music video for the song was released on January 23, 2013. It peaked at number two on the Country Airplay chart and number four on Hot Country Songs, also certified Platinum by the RIAA. On March 18, Underwood announced via Twitter that "See You Again" would be the fourth single off the album. It impacted Country radio on April 15,[39] and reached number two on the Country Airplay chart and number seven on Hot Country Songs. On August 10, 2015, the song was certified Platinum by the RIAA.
The Blown Away Tour was the fourth headlining tour by Underwood which contained an international run of shows during the summer of 2012, including her first-ever United Kingdom concert, taking place at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London on June 21. The tour was announced on May 1, 2012.[40] The Royal Albert Hall concert sold out within the first 90 minutes of public ticket sales.[41] The opening act for Underwood on the North American leg of the tour was country singer Hunter Hayes. Underwood donated $1 from each ticket sold on the North American leg of the tour to support the Red Cross disaster relief. The first leg of the Blown Away Tour began in September 14 in Manchester and continued deep into December.[42][43] Due to positive reception and successful touring revenue from the first North American leg of the tour, a second North American leg of the tour was announced for the spring of 2013. The tour ultimately ran through May 2013 and played to over one million fans over the course of 112 shows.[44]
A concert DVD, The Blown Away Tour: Live, was released on August 13, 2013. The footage was captured during Underwood's concert in Ontario, California on March 3, 2013. The DVD includes more than twenty songs performed by Underwood on tour, as well as exclusive interviews with Underwood, tour director of The Blown Away Tour, Raj Kapoor, and other behind-the-scenes footage about the tour.[44] The DVD has since been certified Gold by the RIAA.[45]
Blown Away received mostly positive reviews from music critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[46]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that its turn-of-the-millennium nostalgia is handled with "skill and savvy", which delivers larger-than-life power ballads and arena-ready country firmly within Underwood's "wheelhouse". He added that Blown Away presents her as fully at ease with her role as a superstar, and suggested that she has rarely seemed as comfortable with that identity as she does here.[12] Deborah Evans Price of Billboard praised the album, writing that Underwood delivers her "most adventurous" work to date while addressing a range of emotional subjects such as abuse, infidelity, revenge, and regret.[48] Jessica Nicholson of Country Weekly awarded the album four out of five stars and wrote that it is "easily" Underwood's most well-rounded and confident work to date.[49]
The New York Times editor Jon Caramanica offered a positive assessment of the album, noting that Underwood's "huge" voice is particularly effective when channeling anger, a quality that has long defined her strongest material. Caramanica also emphasized her established position within country music, describing her blend of vocal ambition and toughness as reminiscent of a younger Martina McBride.[56] Eric Allen of American Songwriter gave the album four out of five stars and wrote that Blown Away shows "considerable artistic and creative growth" in Underwood's songwriting and choice of material. He added that the record feels more "thematic and unified", calling it her strongest effort to date.[47] Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+, and referred to Blown Away as Underwood's "most stadium-rock-friendly album yet.[50] At USA Today, Elysa Garnder told that the release "both reaffirms her natural gifts and makes us continue to root for her to push beyond them."[55]
Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times expressed a more reserved view of the album, writing that much of it finds Underwood using her "remarkable voice" to deliver "feel-good bromides" and cited the lightly reggae-inflected "One Way Ticket" as an example.[52] While Johnathan Keefe of Slant Magazine was similarly restrained in his assessment, though he credited Underwood for "at least tak[ing] far more creative risks than she ever has before" and for occasionally straying from a formula he felt had become "stale and predictable".[54] Sean Daly of Tampa Bay Times gave the album a C grade, writing that it is dominated by "cliché pleadings for lost love" and arguing that Blown Away sounds more "Hollywood safe" than "Nashville tough".[57] Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone wrote that Underwood's voice remains "as powerful as ever", but felt that Blown Away tries too hard by amplifying its melodrama through heavy use of strings and effects.[53] At The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan felt that the album "may be too formulaic to give her much of a foothold."[51]
Blown Away debuted at number one in the United States on the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 267,000 copies.[65] It marks Underwood's third number-one album on the chart, following Carnival Ride (2007) and Play On (2009).[65] Furthermore, she became the third female to chart at number one on the Billboard 200 with three country albums, tying her with Linda Ronstadt and Faith Hill.[65] Like her three previous albums, Blown Away also debuted at the top of the Top Country Albums chart, making Underwood only the second female to achieve it.[66] In its second week, the album stayed at number one, being Underwood's first album to spend more than a week at the top, selling 120,000 copies.[67]Blown Away has topped the US Top Country Albums chart for seven weeks, marking Underwood's longest run at number one on the chart since her debut album, Some Hearts (2005), logged 27 weeks on top.[68][69]
The record also marked the seventh best selling album of 2012 in the US, becoming the second time Underwood has an album inside the top 10 albums since her debut Some Hearts which was landed at number three in 2006.[70]Blown Away finished 2012 with over 1,400,000 copies sold worldwide, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.[71] As of October 2019, it has sold 1,853,200 copies in the US.[72] The album has sold over two million copies worldwide, being Underwood's fourth consecutive album to sell at least two million copies.[73] In January 2020, the album received a 3× Platinum certification from the RIAA for 3 million units in sales and streams.[74]
In Canada, the album debuted at number one, with first-week sales of 17,300 copies.[75] It also debuted at number four on the ARIA Top 50 Albums, and at number one on the ARIA Top 20 Country Albums charts in Australia.[76] Her first-ever officially released album in the United Kingdom, Blown Away debuted at number eleven on the UK Top 100 Albums, and at number one on the UK Top Country Albums.[77] It has since sold 61,000 copies in the United Kingdom,[78] and has been certified Silver by the BPI.[79]
↑"ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". ARIA Charts. ARIA - Australian Recording Industry Association Ltd. May 14, 2012. Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
↑"ARIA Top 20 Country Chart". ARIA Charts. ARIA - Australian Recording Industry Association Ltd. May 14, 2012. Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
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