I have to say that I kind of got worried for Carrie while I was watching this video.
“You don’t know that man, Carrie!” I shouted, “Be careful!”
I’m not particularly a fan of country music but I’ve always liked Carrie Underwood, largely because she seems to be unpretentious and, all things considered, rather down-to-Earth. That said, when she was on American Idol, I was planning on voting for Bo Bice. But then Bo started singing songs acapella and I was like, “Uh, I don’t want to encourage that type of behavior.” I was legitimately torn between Carrie and Bo. In the end, if I remember correctly, I compromised by voting for Gary Johnson, instead.
Anyway, on a serious note, I don’t think Carrie Underwood could have pulled this song off 10 years ago. There’s a kind of sad “I’ve suffered real pain” feel to this song and it’s the type of thing that I imagine only comes with getting older and experiencing some real disillusion. That melancholy feel is there in the video, too. I mean, there’s a lot of quiet desperation going on here and it’s going to take more than a live performance of The Sound of Music to make everything okay again.
Enjoy!