Carrie Underwood Didn’t Want ‘Drinking Alone’ to End With a Hookup
Despite the sultry feel of Carrie Underwood's current single, the breakup song "Drinking Alone," the singer knew from the start that she didn't want the track to end with a hotel bar hookup. Underwood told co-writers David Garcia and Brett James as much in their writing session.
"I was like, 'I don’t want her like going home with him,'" Underwood recalls in an interview with her record label, UMG Nashville. "I don’t want any of that. I just want it to be like, ‘Okay we’ll just hang out. We’ll drink. We’ll maybe share a corner booth kiss.’"
By not getting together, the song's characters represent the late-night conversations that keep the minds of the brokenhearted busy. "It’s just more about that night and that moment and that Band-Aid and then going your separate ways," Underwood shares. "Like, 'This isn’t a thing. I’m not looking to start a new relationship. I’m out of this one. Let’s just let whatever this is be what this is right now.’”
Ultimately, Underwood's song is about a Good Samaritan lending an ear to someone desperately needing to vent.
"I feel like the title could have gone to a very like sad emotional place, but me being me, I still wanted to have that strong kind of character in there," Underwood says. "So, I love the fact that this is a breakup song. ‘I’m here at the bar drinking my pain away. You and me can hang out. Why should we both be lamenting over lost love separately? We’re both here doing the same thing. Let’s just do that together.’"
"Drinking Alone" comes from Underwood's most recent studio album, Cry Pretty, released in 2018.
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