Entertainment | Music
Underwood's same old tune
The formula worked before. Will it this time?
- By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
- Published: 00:00 November 17, 2009
If there's a slam-dunk aspect to Carrie Underwood's third album, it's that she's handed her American Idol benefactors a theme song for the next episode of Idol Gives Back.
That song is Change, an exercise in social responsibility that challenges the listener to stay open to the possibility that a small gesture can make a big difference.
Underwood puts that idea across convincingly — it's one that also would do wonders for her music. Unfortunately, there are no small gestures here. As on 2007's Carnival Ride, Underwood and producer Mark Bright lunge for one climactic crescendo after another at the expense of vocal nuance, lyric subtlety and even aural clarity, thanks to the excessive sonic compression again applied to most tracks.
Of course, the same formula has helped her sell more albums than any other Idol alum, but Play On exhibits a distressing lack of dimension for a singer with Underwood's obvious abilities.
There's another Before He Cheats-style tale of vengeance (Songs Like This) and a red-flag warning about lowlifes in the album's first single (Cowboy Casanova). And can someone please institute a two-year moratorium on songs built on greeting-card philosophising (Temporary Home)?
That's one of seven songs Underwood gets lead co-writing credit on, and while it's encouraging to see her more fully contributing to what she sings, it would be more rewarding if she'd explore less thoroughly trod ground, a problem that also hampers Play On, which closes the album.
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It's an earnest, albeit cliché-heavy, stab at keep-your-chin-up encouragement: "You're gonna make mistakes/ It's always worth the sacrifice."
Come to think of it, sounds like an ideal choice for the weekly exit music on the next season of American Idol.
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