Cry Pretty is the sixth studio album by American singer and songwriter Carrie Underwood. The album was released on September 14, 2018, as Underwood's first album with Capitol Records Nashville after signing a global deal with Universal Music Group at the start of 2017. The album marked the first co-producing effort by Underwood, who partnered with David Garcia for the record.
The album was met with mostly positive reviews from music critics, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making Underwood the first woman to hit the top of the Billboard 200 chart with four country albums. It also achieved the biggest sales week for a country album in more than three years, as well as the biggest sales week for a female artist in 2018. It also debuted at number one in Canada, number four in Australia and charted in several other markets.
On April 18, 2018, Underwood released a statement on the album, saying, "At this point in my career, I feel stronger and more creative than ever. I think you can hear that in this new album. It's emotional, it's soulful, it's real, and we also have some fun on there too. I hope everyone loves it as much as I have loved making it."[1] Songwriter and producer David Garcia was selected to co-produce the album with Underwood.[2] Additionally, Cry Pretty marks Underwood's first effort as producer.[3] Although the making of the album had been going on for nearly a year before Underwood's fall and subsequent injuries in 2017, she wasn't able to record vocals for the songs until 2018, due to the damage to her mouth.[4]
Underwood had reserved the track "The Bullet" for several album cycles, finally deciding to release it on the Cry Pretty album.[4] She addressed the intent behind the song, calling it "timely but not political. It doesn't matter what the opinions or feelings are, it just matters that something happened, and it's about the people that are affected by it at the end of the day. I'm just glad I heard this song before anyone else did because I feel like it found its home with us."[5]
Underwood co-wrote the album's title track after having three miscarriages in two years, explaining that, "I would literally have these horrible things going on in my life and then have to go smile and do some interviews or photoshoots."[6] She also addressed the more personal songs on the album, saying, "I feel like I've always been good about writing stories about other people and not so great writing about myself. I felt like through all the ups and downs of last year and the beginning of this year, it was...I had to. That's just what was on my mind and on my heart."[7]
Underwood considers the album her most personal to date, saying, "I feel like this is the most me I've ever had in a project. This is the project that I've had my hands all over the most. It's just something I'm really proud of. I want people to find something that makes them feel something."[4]
Composition
Cry Pretty spans pop, country, and R&B, with Underwood sounding "better than ever" following her recovery period.[8] In addition, the record's sound blends "rafters-reaching country anthems" while incorporating dance and hip-hop rhythms into a "radio-ready twang-pop" framework.[9] Underwood employs a familiar structural approach; having "pinned down the formula" by nodding to country tradition, incorporating "thick pop production", and centering the album around ballads that "build until she can release that big voice", with "just enough bounce" used to maintain momentum across the record.[10]
Lyrically, Cry Pretty foregrounds emotional openness as a central organizing principle, and this approach is established on the title track, which opens with the admission that Underwood is "not usually the kind to show my heart to the world", before the album proceeds to explore emotions she had previously kept "in reserve" across its runtime.[11] Several songs address themes including broken relationships, substance abuse, gun violence, and equality.[8][9] In particular, "The Bullet" is described as the album's main "statement" on gun violence, a song Underwood had "been considering for inclusion on several albums" before using it in response to the Las Vegas mass shooting.[12] The album places this material within a polished, radio-oriented framework combining "uplift" and "melancholy".[12]
"Cry Pretty", the first single from the album, was released on April 11, 2018.[30][31] Three days before of its release, she teased the song through her social media alongside an image of her eye with glitters placed underneath.[32][33] Two days later, she shared an open letter, showing the co-writers of the song, Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose and Lori McKenna,[34] as well as the meaning of its title.[35][36][37] On May 6, the music video of the song was released.[38][39][40] It debuted at number 20 and peaked at number 5 on the BillboardHot Country Songs chart.[41] The song topped the Digital Songs chart with 54,000 downloads sold in its first week, becoming Underwood's first song to do so, and it also debuted at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100.[42] It peaked at number nine on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.[43] "Love Wins" was released as the second single from the album on August 31, 2018, alongside a lyric video.[44][45] Underwood, David Garcia and Brett James co-wrote the song, and the former of two produced the song.[46] The music video for the song was released on September 11.[47] It debuted at number 30 on the Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 15.[48] On September 7, "End Up with You" was released as a promotional single.[49]
"Southbound" was released as the third single from the album on April 29, 2019. Its music video was released on June 8.[50] Written by Underwood, Garcia and Josh Miller,[51][52] it reached number three on the BillboardCountry Airplay chart and number 11 on the Hot Country Songs chart.[43] "Drinking Alone" was released as the fourth single from the album.[53] Co-written by Underwood, Garcia and James,[54] it impacted country radio on November 4.[55]
On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album has an average score of 69, based on eleven reviews.[58]
Rolling Stone gave Cry Pretty three and a half stars, describing it as a "modern country album pivoting into pop and R&B" with "grade-A" songwriting and Underwood's "mighty" voice carrying even its weaker moments. The review particularly praised her willingness to engage with gun violence on tracks like "The Bullet" and "Love Wins", noting that while the album recalls artists such as Adele and Beyoncé, its "architecture [of the album] is R&B at its core".[64]Entertainment Weekly likewise framed the record as a meeting of "two Carries", portraying Underwood as more vulnerable and outspoken at her best, though it argued that when she "falls into the costumes of others", the effect becomes harder to accept.[61]
Markos Papadatos of the Digital Journal praised the album, highlighting Underwood's "impeccable" vocal control and noting that she excels as a singer, songwriter, and producer. He concluded that the album is a "superb studio effort", awarding it an A rating.[65]The Diamondback described Cry Pretty as "poised and mature", praising its lyricism, falsettos, and sustained vulnerability, which reinforce Underwood's enduring talent. The review concluded that the album demonstrates her continued "country regality" and growth both as a musician and as a person.[66] Writing for PopMatters, the reviewer observed that while Underwood largely operates within a familiar formula of country tradition and pop production, she possesses enough artistic sensibility to rise above it, even if the album is "neither [...] musically groundbreaking nor controversial".[10]
The Los Angeles Times acknowledged Underwood's vocal power, noting that she "sets off all kinds of vocal fireworks", but criticized the songwriting for framing emotions in overly generalized terms. The review argued that this approach makes it difficult to grasp a clear sense of personal specificity across the album.[67]Paste similarly argued that Cry Pretty's engagement with themes such as gun violence and equality is relatively restrained, suggesting that the album's significance lies less in lyrical boldness than in the fact that it will be heard by "millions of people all over the world".[9]
In the United States, Cry Pretty debuted on top of the Billboard 200 with 266,000 album-equivalent units, including 251,000 pure album sales, giving Underwood her fourth number-one album, and making her the first woman to have four number-one country albums on the chart.[71] It is the largest sales week for a country album since Luke Bryan's Kill the Lights in 2015, and the biggest sales week for a female artist in 2018.[71] It also debuted atop the Top Country Albums chart,[72] becoming her seventh consecutive number one album on that chart. The debut of Cry Pretty at number one on the Billboard 200 prompted Underwood to rise from number sixty-one to the top of Billboard Artist 100. It made her the first female country artist to top that chart.[73] It was the seventh best-selling album of 2018 in the United States, with 401,000 copies sold that year.[74] It has sold 534,000 physical copies and a total of 870,000 copies including streaming in the United States as of January 2020.[75]Cry Pretty was certified Gold by the RIAA on October 23, 2018, and Platinum on February 12, 2020.[76]
The album also debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart with 28,000 album-equivalent units, giving Underwood her third number-one album in the country.[77]Cry Pretty opened at number four on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart,[78] becoming her third top five album there, while also debuting at number one on the country component chart.[79] It also debuted at number 12 in Scotland[80] and number sixteen on the UK Albums Chart.[81]
The album's four singles, "Cry Pretty," "Love Wins," "Southbound," and "Drinking Alone" have all been certified gold or platinum by the RIAA as of August 2021, with streaming included.[82]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
