My all-time favorite Carrie Underwood songs!
20. Lessons Learned
A song I feel every teenager can relate to, "Lessons Learned" talks about dealing with past regrets leading towards you becoming a stronger person, despite life getting harder along the way. It's all about accepting everything you've experienced in life to be able to be to move on as it is all behind you. After listening to this song, it personally makes me feel a lot more positive towards life and to be thankful for the life I have been granted.
19. Before He Cheats
In this song, Carrie portrays her anger towards her cheating ex-boyfriend who, whilst slow-dancing with a bleached-blonde tramp in a bar, is unknown to the fact that Carrie is right outside digging her keys into the side of his car, before slashing holes into its tires. Whilst not your typical Carrie Underwood song reflecting more mature problems, this revengeful song became her biggest ever hit and is still as popular 6 years after its official release.
18. Just A Dream
From what you'd gather from the beginning of the first verse, this song would be about a girl, who's just turned 18, in her wedding gown about to walk down the isle to be married. However, this is not the case. Instead, she is attending her late husband-to-be's funeral who appears to have died at war whilst they were engaged. We are made to believe that the girl has still not accepted that he has died so would attend his funeral just as she would if it were their wedding day. This song has to be one of the most emotional songs Carrie has ever sung which describes the girl's hurt and hoping it all to be a dream instead.
17. Nobody Ever Told You
Onto a more positive route, "Nobody Ever Told You" is an inspirational song which tells girls that they're beautiful just as they are. This song is a great feel-good song and is to me P!nk's "Perfect", Demi Lovato's "Believe In Me" and One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" all mixed into one to create this truly impressive piece of music.
16. Play On
Another song which helps you to make you feel better about yourself and to never give up, even if you think you're wrong, as everything is worth a sacrifice. Sort of a "Nobody Ever Told You" meets "Lessons Learned", this song tells you that it's okay to make mistakes and that you have to play on, even when you think you're all alone.
15. Quitter
Like Carrie mentioned at her concert at the Royal Albert Hall, this song is a very "backwards" song. It starts with how her love-life has been all her life, which she explains to have been very negative because of boys who have acted like jerks. The song soon changes once she meets a new boy who makes her feel completely the opposite and that she never wants to give up on him.
14. Songs Like This
Carrie sings about another ex-boyfriend who has constantly lied and cheated on her. Despite her Christian faith, she admits to wanting to hunt him down to "rip his heart right out", though she probably didn't mean it quite literally. To prevent any violence, she puts all her anger into this song and speaks of all the revenge she would like to plot on him.
13. There's A Place For Us
When I first heard this song, it was the b-side to Joe McElderry's 3rd single "Someone Wake Me Up". Having not heard of Carrie Underwood before then, I thought his version was very applaudable and it soon become one of my most-played songs of his. I then discovered that this was originally a Carrie Underwood song. Although it didn't tickle my fancy as much as Joe's did on first listen, I gradually become more loving towards it and it has now found its way into my top 20 all-time Carrie Underwood songs!
12. Starts With Goodbye
"It's sad, but sometimes moving on with the rest of your life.. starts with goodbye" - one of my favorite Carrie Underwood lyrics, which couldn't be more true! In aid of coming over a difficult break-up, you have to have some time-out from them in your life. As the song says, it's going to hurt a lot, but after crying and letting go of things you have loved, you will soon find yourself stronger and on the other side and you will soon find that time will heal your heartbreak.
11. How Great Thou Art
Although not an original Carrie Underwood song, I felt it would be a sin not to include her magnificent version onto my countdown! This song is the most important song that Carrie will ever sing in her whole career, and I feel utterly privileged to have witnessed her sing this song, live, at her concert in London.
10. See You Again
Having been unsuccessful in becoming the theme for the movie 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader', in which "There's A Place For Us" won the title instead, we finally got to hear it on Carrie's latest album instead. This song features the same themes the song just mentioned. Having not seen the movie this song was written for, I'm unsure whether it's about seeing a lost-loved one again who has previously died or just a loved-one. It is still a beautiful song and I relate to it myself about hoping to see Carrie again.
9. I Just Can't Live A Lie
This song deserves its place in my top 10 as it has helped me a lot. It is about missing someone you still love and coming to terms with the the fact that are still not over them. Carrie sings of a heartbreaking confession about how she is still in love with someone and all the good times that they have been through together and her desperation to tell this person the truth instead of living a lie.
8. Flat on the Floor
Flat on the Floor is song about feeling stalked from a certain boy and relating the situation to like being trapped inside because of a storm. Not one of Carrie's more emotionally depth written songs, this song is a lot of fun to listen to and always manages to get me on my feet dancing.
7. Temporary Home
Singing about 3 different people of separate walks of life, Carrie tells each of their stories in each verse about the hard times they have had to face in their lives. Firstly, she sings of a young boy who appears to have been in-and-out of foster homes that it all feels normal to him, but is still certain that he will one-day find his true home and it's just one more step to where he's going. The second character in this song is a young, homeless mother with nowhere to go who is finding it extremely difficult to find a job or someone to turn to for support. One of the more uplifting parts of this song is where she whispers to her baby girl, "someday we'll find our place here in this world". The next person she sings about is an old man surrounded by his family as he lays down in his hospital bed. He tells them that he will see them all soon before looking up to say, "I can see God's face". This song is definitely the most emotional song Carrie has ever sung. It has been beautifully written to the core and I never listen to it without tearing up.
6. Jesus, Take The Wheel
Another upsetting song which tells the story of another mum driving to Cincinnati on a snow white Christmas Eve to her parents' house. With too many issues plaguing her mind, she loses control of the speed of her car and suddenly sees both her and her baby's lives flash before her eyes. She looks over her shoulder to find the baby unalarmed, "sleeping like a rock". She finally gives in and puts her arms in the air and surrenders to God that she has been living her life terribly wrong and she pleads for one last chance. This is definitely one of Carrie's most iconic pieces of music and has been declared a "classic".
5. Fix You
Okay, so this may not be a Carrie Underwood song, but after seeing her perform this song live, it should be. When I saw her sing this version live I was instantly impressed and was just amazed throughout the whole performance. I have never really been a Coldplay fan before, but have heard the original version of this song many times but never really thought much of it. Hearing Carrie perform this song live blew me away and I now think very highly of it to the extreme that I believe Carrie should release her version of this as single herself as it is truly a masterpiece.
4. Who Are You
It is very rare for Carrie to sing a song about true love, but when she does, this is the result of it. "Who Are You" is a powerful ballad taken from her 4th studio album, "Blown Away", and was a significant highlight from it. Being the last song on the album (unless you have the UK edition), some would find it a case of 'save the best until last'. I can honestly say I was stunned by this song when I heard it and long for a day when I can, hopefully, relate myself to to it.
3. All-American Girl
This song, I believe, was written about Carrie. It tells of how a man's dreams changed of having a baby boy which he'd hoped for, to having a beautiful baby girl becoming the centre of his whole world. Years later that baby finds love of their own and falls in love with the senior football star, who she later marries before wanting to try for a baby of their own. She asks him what baby he would like, and as romantic as it sounds, he says that he would like "a sweet, little, beautiful one just like you. I want a beautiful, wonderful, perfect All American Girl!".
2. Good Girl
A fairly new release of Carrie's, "Good Girl" advises a, um, good girl, that the guy she's dating isn't all he makes out to be. Being the sweetheart she is, Carrie tells her that she is worth a lot more than him and that she deserves a lot better than someone who will say one thing but mean another. She tells her before she gets too attracted to lock up all her love and go and throw away the key before he finds his away in, preventing her from getting hurt. After seeing this song live, it was the only song to give me an instant thrill (probably because it was the first song she performed, but hey). I had goosebumps all over me throughout the performance and was amazed by Carrie's guitarist during his solo. Since then, I have loved this song a whole lot more than I initially did.
1. Ever Ever After
Admittedly, I first discovered Carrie Underwood after seeing the movie "Enchanted". As you may already know, Carrie sang the theme song for this movie which is called "Ever Ever After". This song honestly changed my world and gave me a new outlook on life. It has changed the way I think about a lot of things and that there is always joy beneath everything which is to be claimed. Being a huge fan of fairytales, and Disney in general, the song's theme relates to all of that and is everything I love all in one piece of music. Also, let's not forget the video. I don't think anyone has ever looked as beautiful as Carrie did in the song's music video. Her smile and cheerfulness in the video never fails to brighten up a miserable day. From the first listen, this song has remained my all-time favorite song and I don't suspect it ever being replaced. It is truly an outstanding piece of music.
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