Carrie Underwood Talks ‘Cry Pretty’ Album: ‘A Lot of Emotion,’ But No Collaborations
Carrie Underwood is gearing up to release her new album Cry Pretty -- the singer's first release in three years -- in September. In the midst of her just-announced 2019 Cry Pretty Tour 360 and the news that she and husband Mike Fisher are expecting a second child, Underwood caught up with Taste of Country to explain how her upcoming album, while highly emotional, will differ from the particular kind of drama that fans might be expecting.
"You know, I don't think I kill anybody off on this album," Underwood says with a laugh. "I know! It's so unlike me. Everybody lives at the end."
However, she goes on to explain, that doesn't mean that the album lacks drama entirely: "It's a little more real life and, I feel like, just me and where I am in my life," the country superstar explains.
"Having a kid, and just kind of going through this crazy life that we go through -- I've grown up a lot," Underwoods adds, "and I feel like 'the drama' is more real-life."
Underwood also says that her personal life, and in particular her husband and her son, Isaiah, have influenced her songwriting.
"It's impossible for them not to," she adds. "When you go into writing, you're drawing off of personal experiences and you're talking about people that you know, or friends that are dealing with things. Your life influences your music for sure."
Over the past couple of years, Underwood's life has had its ups and downs. She entered 2017 planning to take some time off to be with her family, staying mostly out of the spotlight; however, in November of that year, she suffered a serious fall that kept her offstage for a bit longer than she'd planned. Underwood later said that the emotional ups and downs of 2017 inspired "Cry Pretty," the first single off of the new album.
When it came time to write her new album, Underwood says that while she wrote from a personal place, she knew she couldn't force the creative process. "You have to go where the day takes you," Underwood explains.
"I feel like if you walk into a writing session like, 'I need a happy song about this,' then that might not be what everybody else is experiencing, and that person that you're writing with might be having the worst day ever and they were thinking of going in a completely different direction," she continues. "You just have to feel the space out and be like, 'Okay, where are we being led?' And then let the songs write themselves."
Underwood's commitment to letting the songs be her guide served as a motto for the entire album-making process. It was the first time she'd ever co-produced a record, and the style of Cry Pretty was all her own. The singer says that although the album will feature some outside musicians, there are no "straight-up, duet-type" collaborations .
"I feel like we just threw the rulebook out the window and went where the music wanted us to go," she recalls. "There's a lot of emotion on the album, a lot of soulfulness. We have a little fun, too, but it's just something I'm very proud of, because I feel like I'm more in this album than I've ever been before."
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