Daraebe
Active member
Carrie Underwood’s choice of a tornado as the central image for her current "Blown Away" album and tour became something of a double-edged sword as her show unfolded Tuesday at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
On one hand, it’s a powerful symbol of a force of nature analogous to Underwood’s titanium pipes, which at times seemed capable of filling the arena with no help from a PA system.
On the other, a tornado is a force beyond human control that typically leaves a trail of destruction wherever it touches down, a trait Underwood also shared throughout a show that opened at maximum voltage and operated there for the bulk of the evening.
Her updated version of Randy Travis’ 1988 hit “I Told You So” was a prime example. The lyric is the pleading of a lover who has betrayed a partner’s trust and begs to be given another chance, knowing the answer may—and probably will—be no. Belting out the chorus in which the words convey the singer’s vulnerability, Underwood trampled the tenuous feelings at the song’s heart.
Her firepower is better suited to her hits of vengeance and retribution such as “Before He Cheats,” “Cowboy Casanova” and the new album’s title track, although those too would only get stronger if she brought more shading and delicacy to relevant words and phrases to contrast with the raw emotion of the choruses.
Pop music’s best singers understand that to everything—musically as well as temperamentally--there is a season, and thus know when to whisper and when to scream. The most invigorating musical conversations are those that rise and fall, ebb and flow in direct relation to the content of the dialogue. Underwood’s tacit message is that any idea worth sharing is more compelling the louder it is delivered.
It’s hard to fault Underwood, however, as her audience cheered every supernaturally sustained note and glass-threatening vocal climax, offering positive reinforcement as if to an Olympic pole vaulter scaling ever higher altitudes.
Review: Feeling blown away by Carrie Underwood at Staples Center - latimes.com
On one hand, it’s a powerful symbol of a force of nature analogous to Underwood’s titanium pipes, which at times seemed capable of filling the arena with no help from a PA system.
On the other, a tornado is a force beyond human control that typically leaves a trail of destruction wherever it touches down, a trait Underwood also shared throughout a show that opened at maximum voltage and operated there for the bulk of the evening.
Her updated version of Randy Travis’ 1988 hit “I Told You So” was a prime example. The lyric is the pleading of a lover who has betrayed a partner’s trust and begs to be given another chance, knowing the answer may—and probably will—be no. Belting out the chorus in which the words convey the singer’s vulnerability, Underwood trampled the tenuous feelings at the song’s heart.
Her firepower is better suited to her hits of vengeance and retribution such as “Before He Cheats,” “Cowboy Casanova” and the new album’s title track, although those too would only get stronger if she brought more shading and delicacy to relevant words and phrases to contrast with the raw emotion of the choruses.
Pop music’s best singers understand that to everything—musically as well as temperamentally--there is a season, and thus know when to whisper and when to scream. The most invigorating musical conversations are those that rise and fall, ebb and flow in direct relation to the content of the dialogue. Underwood’s tacit message is that any idea worth sharing is more compelling the louder it is delivered.
It’s hard to fault Underwood, however, as her audience cheered every supernaturally sustained note and glass-threatening vocal climax, offering positive reinforcement as if to an Olympic pole vaulter scaling ever higher altitudes.
Review: Feeling blown away by Carrie Underwood at Staples Center - latimes.com
