Amazon.com: Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts, hastily made and released some five months after she won the 2005 American Idol crown, was surprisingly solid and tuneful. For her follow-up, producer Mark Bright steers her toward the big Martina McBride skies, with a plethora of strings and huge emotional crescendos. Underwood co-wrote four songs, mostly with the tried-and-true tunesmiths who made Some Hearts soar. On the torchy heartache ballad "I Know You Won’t," she gives a beautifully nuanced and controlled performance, but if that song would suit any number of lush female pop stars from Celine Dion on down, "Flat on the Floor" rocks hard while preserving co-writer Ashley Monroe’s Appalachian angst. Still, there are missteps: the easy tears of the unlikely war ballad "Just a Dream," a too-obvious attempt to repeat the sass of "Before He Cheats" ("The More Boys I Meet"), and the Shania-ish bad-girl-on-Cuervo stomp of "Last Name." The big payoff, then, is how much 24-year old Underwood has improved as a vocalist. How often listeners line up for this Carnival Ride depends on their attitude about country music’s continual melding with pop, and how they feel about a princess upstart taking home the awards that used to go to her heroes. --Alanna Nash
Carrie Underwood Photos
More from Carrie Underwood
Some Hearts
American Idol Season 4 - The Showstoppers
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - great cd
carrie underwood is so beautiful an she sings like an angel this is an excellent cd. i really like the more boys i meet song and just about all the others too. i would like to see her and the singer from ... Read More
Rating: - THE QUEEN OF COUNTRY REIGNS.............
This cd is unbelievable and deserves all the kudos and awards it has received. Carrie Underwood's first cd was a powerhouse seller and also garnered her critical acclaim and tons of awards. But as with ... Read More
Rating: - Carrie Review
I'm certainly no music critic; I like things like art or music because they appeal to my ears and/or eyes. And this album (and artist!) certainly meet that criteria, so I like the album and give it five stars. ... Read More
Rating: - An even better sophomore CD!
It's rare that a sophomore album outshines the first one, especially if the first was an award winning album. But Carrie Underwood's Carnival is even better than her first CD, Some Hearts. And that's not to say ... Read More
Rating: - Carrie Underwood
I wanted this CD for the song "Last Name" which is a favorite song of mine, however, the rest of the CD is great. If you like Carrie Underwood this is the cd to get......
- great cd
- THE QUEEN OF COUNTRY REIGNS.............