Last month, Carrie Underwood‘s “Something in the Water” topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for the seventh week in a row. And yes, that’s significant. Not only does it give the country singer her longest chart-topping run to date, it’s the third-longest running No. 1 for a woman, according to Billboard Country Update.
But it’s more than just numbers. Because as a song, “Something in the Water” (which is now a GRAMMY nominee) is both serious in nature and reflective in tone, making it stand out in today’s country landscape.
Underwood cowrote the song with Chris DeStefano (“Good Girl”) and Brett James (“Jesus Take the Wheel”), and it tells a moving tale of a woman who ends a struggling journey by getting baptized in a river. With Underwood’s powerful vocals, the soaring musical accompaniment and a gospel choir singing “Amazing Grace,” it’s a song that has struck a chord with many country fans and country radio.
The strong popularity of “Something In the Water” got me thinking: Is Carrie Underwood’s song breaking the current trends in country music and opening new doors for meaningful, uplifting songs?
“Bro country” has been discussed over and over again to the point that it’s a tiresome topic in 2015. But that, perhaps, is exactly why Underwood’s song connects. With this song of facing trouble and finding redemption, Underwood appears to be giving listeners something they clearly want and need. Instead of escaping a hard day with alcohol, or a drive down a long dirt road with the windows rolled down, “Something in the Water” chooses a different path.
Somebody said what I’m saying to you,
Opened my eyes and told me the truth.
They said, “Just a little faith, it’ll all get better.”
So I followed that preacher man down to the river and now I’m changed
And now I’m stronger
Lyrically it’s about finding faith, yes, but on a fundamental level it’s about looking inside yourself for the answers to life’s toughest questions. And that introspection is something you don’t often find in popular country singles.
Interestingly, though, “Something in the Water” is actually not the only current country single challenging listeners to dig a little deeper.
Jake Owen‘s introspective “What We Ain’t Got” is another good example. A song that reflects on how we live our own lives, “What We Ain’t Got” is about looking at where we are and appreciating what we have, as Owen told me last year.
“I really related to that song a lot, and I have a lot of friends that I’ve watched work their lives away, too, and sometimes you just have to step back from it,” Owen said.
We ain’t happy where we are
There’s greener grass in the neighbor’s yard
A bigger house and a faster car
We ain’t happy where we are.
Another artist, Sugarland‘s Kristian Bush, also shares a bigger message on his new single “Trailer Hitch.” “You can’t take it with you when you go/ Never seen a hearse with a trailer hitch,” he sings on the chorus.
“It’s just a question, why do we all want to die rich,” Bush told me of the song. “Isn’t there something we can do with that?”
In the song, the narrator gives away all his baseball cards and even his car, because he realizes there are some things more valuable in life than things.
And the list of songs that explore the more meaningful moments in life doesn’t end there. Eric Church‘s No. 1 hit “Talladega” revisits those memorable times in our lives where “we were laughing and living, drinking and wishing,” as Church sings. It’s about the journey, not the destination. In Church’s case, “Talladega” isn’t actually about the famous NASCAR race track, but the fun he and his friends had getting there together.
Like a storm, time rolls on,
You can’t hit pause as we just did.
Most days in life don’t stand out,
But life’s about those days that will, like,
Rockin’ Randall, getting rowdy,
Shooting roman candles at the man in the moon,
Til the Alabama sun was breaking
Like Underwood before them, Maddie and Tae are giving a voice to women on country radio. While the country duo’s debut single “Girl In a Country Song” had them calling out the bros of country radio, their new single “Fly” takes a different turn. A track that urges us all to keep on climbing those insurmountable obstacles and not give up, it’s a welcome and reassuring voice on the radio.
So keep on climbing, though the ground might shake
Just keep on reaching though the lid might break
We’ve come this far, don’t you be scared now
Cause you can learn to fly on the way down
“Maddie and I write what’s true to our hearts and to our own lives,” Tae Dye said recently.
As for Underwood, “Something in the Water” is by no means her first try at confronting serious issues through her music. Her 2013 single “See You Again,” for instance, had us feeling nostalgic for those loved ones we lost. And all the way back in 2005, her six-week No. 1 single “Jesus Take the Wheel” showed the then-newly-crowned American Idol winner was fully capable of handling deeply introspective material, in this case about a troubled soul in in a tough situation who isn’t afraid to ask for assistance.
Additionally, Underwood’s current single “Little Toy Guns” is not shying away from serious subject matter, either. The song is about how words can hurt, as she explained during an interview with Chicago’s US99.5. “It’s about a child hearing her parents fighting,” she said. “Even at a young age she realizes how much they hurt. And she wishes they were plastic and fake, like toys, and they didn’t actually cause any damage.”
In between the coats in the closet
She held on to that heart shaped locket
Staring at a family flawless
But it ain’t a pretty picture tonight
Mom and daddy just won’t stop it
Fightin’ at the drop of the faucet
Cuts through the walls catastrophic
She’s caught in the crossfire
While Underwood has no doubt given the last decade of country music some of its best songs, she is also blessed to have a career that gives her the ability to write and record songs that move her and her music covers a wide-range of topics.
Underwood has long been a strong female in country music who is constantly pushing barriers and inspiring those around her. “Something in the Water” and “Little Toy Guns” as well as songs like “What We Ain’t Got,” “Trailer Hitch,” “Talladega” and “Fly” give me hope that country music will continue to develop in positive, meaningful ways in 2015.