When Carrie lets her guard down

For the first time in her career, Carrie Underwood took over co-producing duties on her new album, Cry Pretty, and co-wrote nine of the 13 tracks. But does it make the collection more personal? Underwood returned this year lannouncing this summer she’s pregnant with her second child. Now her personal life has become a bit more front and centre than before.

Cry Pretty is not the confessional record that her country peers have done really well, as evidenced from the title track that notes she’s “not usually the kind to show my heart to the world.” But she’s pushing herself in new musical directions, teasing out parts of her multi-faceted voice with rhythm and tempo that feels like you’re hearing her anew. Working with producer David Garcia, Underwood adds R’n’B, pop and dance rhythms to songs like Backsliding and End Up With You. On Low, she slinks into a bluesy country groove that sounds like a perfect vehicle for a duet between Underwood and Chris Stapleton. She ends the album with what is likely the closest we’re going to see of “real Carrie” on Kingdom, where she sings about scampering children and the highs and lows of a family that’s “perfectly imperfect.”

The song seems more revealing than the others. It also shows that she can be relatable when she lets her guard down.