Maps of Music

Cry Pretty (2018)

Where the lyrics of Cry Pretty take you, and where it was really made.

Underwood's first album as a co-producer debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making her the first woman to have four number-one country albums on that chart.

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Album story

Overview

• Cry Pretty: sixth studio album by American singer and songwriter Carrie Underwood
• Released September 14, 2018
• Underwood's first album with Capitol Records Nashville, after a global deal with Universal Music Group at the start of 2017
• First album on which Underwood worked as a co-producer, with David Garcia
• A country album that spans pop and R&B

Background

• Underwood announced the album in April 2018 and said she felt stronger and more creative than at any earlier point in her career
• Work on the album began about a year before Underwood's 2017 fall and injuries
• Her mouth injuries meant she could not record vocals for the songs until 2018
• Underwood co-wrote the title track after three miscarriages over two years
• She had held the track The Bullet for several album cycles before putting it on this record
• Underwood called Cry Pretty her most personal project to date

Recording

• David Garcia was chosen to co-produce the album with Underwood
• Underwood co-wrote nine of the thirteen tracks
• Credits list many session players and programmers, including Dave Cohen, Jason Evigan, Fred Williams and Chris McHugh
• Ludacris is the featured rapper on The Champion, which was not included on the LP release

Cover

• Photography credit goes to Randee St. Nicholas and design credit to Parker Foote
• Art direction credit goes to Bethany Newman and Joshua Sage Newman

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Carrie Marie Underwood, born March 10, 1983, in Muskogee, Oklahoma, is an American singer and songwriter.
• She won the fourth season of American Idol in 2005.
• Her debut single "Inside Your Heaven" debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first country artist to do so.
• Her debut album Some Hearts (2005) became the best-selling debut album by a solo female country artist and won three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist.
• Carnival Ride (2007) sold over 527,000 copies in its first week and won two Grammy Awards.
• Play On (2009) made her the only woman with eleven consecutive top-two singles on the Hot Country Songs chart.
• Blown Away (2012) was among the year's best-selling albums and earned another Grammy.
• Storyteller (2015) made her the only country artist with her first five studio albums reaching the top two on the Billboard 200.
• Cry Pretty (2018) debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 and made her the first woman to top the chart with four country albums.
• She has won eight Grammy Awards and is the most-awarded artist in CMT Music Awards history.
• She was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2008 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018.
• Underwood is a judge on American Idol since 2025.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic average score of 69, based on eleven reviews from mainstream publications
• Rolling Stone gave the album three and a half stars and called it a modern country album pivoting into pop and R&B
• Rolling Stone praised the songwriting and Underwood's voice, which carried even the weaker songs
• Entertainment Weekly framed the record as a meeting of two sides of Underwood and said the effect weakened when she takes on the personas of others
• PopMatters placed the record within a familiar formula and said Underwood's artistry lifts it above those limits
• Digital Journal described the album as a superb studio effort and gave it an A rating
• The Diamondback called the album poised and mature and praised its lyricism and falsettos
• Los Angeles Times said the songwriting frames emotions in overly general terms
• Paste said the album's treatment of gun violence and equality is relatively restrained

Records

• Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 266,000 album-equivalent units, including 251,000 pure album sales
• Fourth number-one album for Underwood; first woman with four number-one country albums on the chart
• Largest sales week for a country album since Luke Bryan's Kill the Lights in 2015
• Biggest sales week for a female artist in 2018
• Number one on the Canadian Albums Chart with 28,000 units
• Number four on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart
• Number 16 on the UK Albums Chart and number 12 in Scotland
• 401,000 copies sold in the United States in 2018, the seventh best-selling album of that year
• RIAA Gold certification on October 23, 2018, and Platinum on February 12, 2020
• Nominated for Top Country Album at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards and for Album of the Year at the 53rd CMA Awards
• Won Favorite Country Album at the 47th American Music Awards

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album was announced on April 8, 2018, and its track list and songwriting credits came out before the listening event on August 20.
• Underwood first performed the title track at the 53rd Academy of Country Music Awards in April 2018.
• The title track grew out of three miscarriages Underwood endured over two years, during which she kept up public appearances.
• The Cry Pretty Tour 360 was announced on August 8, 2018, and ran from May 1 to October 31, 2019, with 54 shows.
• Underwood is the only artist to win the American Music Awards Favorite Country Album award for every album she has released.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

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