Some of us like this. Some of us don’t. And then there’s Mathers…
[Video][Website]
[5.64]
Jonathan Bogart: The last time I paid attention to Carrie Underwood was when I received the general impression, a few years after her American Idol season, that she was a competently bland country singer and nothing more, that she played it too safe and threw too few curveballs. I’ll take this as a reminder to ignore received wisdom and make up my own damn mind, because if this is playing it safe and throwing it right down the middle, country isn’t what I thought it was. That it’s modern-day arena rock (na-na chorus from Journey, humping strings from ELO) is hardly news — but that the stuttered title phrase is derived from hip-hop scratching is perhaps noteworthy. Certainly hooked me.
[9]
Chuck Eddy: Carrie’s a rocker at heart (frequently even like Heart), and her third and least compelling album has her celebrating getting revenge a couple times, both in songs with titles that start like her last name -– this one and “Unapologize.” For some reason, she’s not grabbing my heart with them. But I guess I like the stuttering parts okay.
[6]
Anthony Easton: Sure is anger by the numbers right now, ain’t it? No energy, nothing new, nothing interesting, and for something that is supposed to get me all riled up, I am mostly bored.
[4]
Ian Mathers: It’s not surprising that the video for “Undo It” largely takes place in a dauntingly large arena; Underwood’s public presentation, career, and singles (especially this one) pretty much define the kind of bland mediocrity you get when you become popular by consensus. “Undo It” is bland bullshit for the same reasons everyone bitches about the predictable upper reaches of the Pazz & Jop poll every year — to get as far on American Idol as she did, you have to appeal to such a mass of people that it is practically impossible to remain interesting. Special thanks to the dumber reaches of the internet for making people think that a line like “you stole my happy, you made me cry” isn’t wince-inducingly stupid.
[1]
Alfred Soto: Arena-rock with country filigrees, and I wouldn’t have recognized Underwood if she wasn’t in the credits. To be fair, she’s always shouted prayers, plaints, and manifestos in my ear. Here she merely shouts.
[3]
Martin Skidmore: “Before He Cheats” is much my favourite thing she’s done, and this Karo DioGuardi-written number is in that territory, if slightly more rocky in the hook. It doesn’t have quite that fire and inventiveness in the lyrics, but it’s pretty catchy and I always enjoy Carrie’s voice. The uh-uhing in the chorus may soon get intolerable, though.
[7]
Iain Mew: Having to fight the urge to say “Life’s like this/That’s the way it is” over the intro isn’t a good start. It does soon pick up afterwards, but as the song snowballs its way inexorably through powerblast choruses and “na na na na”s it gets exhaustingly too much, culminating in the unpleasantness that is two Carries yelling full on, simultaneously.
[3]
Pete Baran: It does not matter that Carrie is playing straight from the country rock anthem playbook, since such cookie cutter tracks perform well based on two things: the gusto of the performance and whatever gimmicks are thrown in. The joy of “U-u-u-u-u-u-u-undo it” is almost equalled by the vocal cord-ripping belting she gives the whole thing. Foot on the monitor stomper of the summer.
[9]
John Seroff: I sure do like Underwood a helluvalot better when she’s got a little dirt on her jeans, some sass on her tongue and a big ol’ countrystyle band backing her up. As a big radio country pop single, this is solid dumb fun that’s all about setting up the excuse to bang out the uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uhn / NAAAH NAH NAHNAH NAAAH chorus. I’m happy to play along.
[8]
Frank Kogan: Love the start with its clipped little guitar strums, love the big brassy soul on the way to the hook, love the in-your-face “uh uh-uh uh” of the hook itself, but this doesn’t hang together at all: no natural emotional development; feels like successive effects just thrown in our face. It does seem at one with the desperate dance-pop mess of 2010, however, and I’m hoping that crossover radio play will make this song make more sense.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: The chorus is basically Kelly Clarkson’s “Miss Independent” dressed in country flannel and fast-forwarded to the end of the relationship. I happen to love “Miss Independent.”
[7]