CU8

[Zach1998]

^
I get Carrie has a life outside of music; that's why I never griped when she took her extended break between eras, but goodness she hardly put in the effort to give us much of an era at all this time around, and now she's going to take another extended break most likely (which in reality it feels like she's been on break for over a year.)

 

[CU4ever]

I posted the link to this Tiktok on the social media thread, but there’s a video there gaining traction about Carrie’s eras/singles. The girl doing the video says she’s a huge Carrie fan, but she didn’t like D&R as an album and that she felt the rollout was really weird/uninspired. This is something I feel like we’ve all been saying, and honestly seems to be really noticed. Not sure what happened but the D&R era seems to be regarded as just a big mishap/not managed well. She also loves storyteller, which I think most fans really do.

I really hope Carrie comes back from her long break and has an exciting era planned for us. And most importantly, one that actually feels like an era. I think the D&R era was her shortest ever (not even a year Imo). The only place we see/hear from her now is Vegas and random shows every few months. I’m just disappointed that it feels like Carrie has been gone already for a year, and she’ll probably be gone for at least another year too. Two years is a long time to be away especially when it feels like we barely saw her last era

 

[Zach1998]

I was actually one of the ones that requested her to do a video for a Carrie haha.

Anyways she hits the nail on the head. And I feel like opinions like hers are some of the most important. She’s more than a casual fan, and loves Carrie, but she’s not so much a fan to where she’s a “yes man” and will give an artist praise no matter the quality, and can never give criticism.

Her take on D&R is very honest and respectful, while not really liking the album. I would definitely recommend watching if many are curious where a lot of fans went during this era, because if I were to guess by the comments agreeing, most felt the way she did about the album.

 

[CU4ever]

Agreed. I think a lot of fans just weren’t a fan of D&R, for whatever reason. It seems like that is really the consensus now. I think that explains its lackluster performance compared to other Carrie albums. I just hope/wonder, if Carrie did make an album that was what her fans liked/wanted, would the fans who didn’t love D&R come back?

 

[RenegadeChaser]

Can someone link the tiktok video please? : )

 

[BreakdownCarrie]

I would love for Carrie to release a from the vault album with songs from previous eras. I’m sure that are plenty of great songs there

I think this would be super smart of her. I don’t know if she has access to all the songs from her RCA days but I think releasing something fans have been pining for like Oklahoma Wind could give her some interest back. She could even spin it as Greatest Hits: Decade 2 or something. I feel like the worst thing she can do right now is nothing and waiting 2-4 years between albums is just not practical these days.

 

[CU4ever]

I really hope we get some sort of CU8 news soon. It’s been such a quiet time to be her fan (especially if you can’t go to Vegas) and it’s sad seeing so many people lose interest. I just hope this next album finds a way to make noise and come back in a big way, especially after many casual fans/fans didn’t love D&R. I’d like to get those fans back.

 

[abbeyjones18]

I think another problem for me concerning D&R was that style-wise it was similar to Cry Pretty. I never really noticed until I saw the lyric videos for the deluxe tracks that the fonts were similar. A ton of pink and purple, too. Both eras were heavy on the glamour. Of course, there's nothing wrong with being glamorous, but I think it was just alot. D&R just feels like an extension of Cry Pretty in that way, imo. I'm hoping that the next era will be more of a back to basics. I just don't think a something for everyone kind of album works right now.

 

[Burst]

I agree. I liked D&R more than most fans (poor single choices, marketing, promotion aside), but it kind of felt like Cry Pretty 2.0, but without the personal/emotional touches of songs like Low or Spinning Bottles.

I hope the next album goes to a more Storyteller or Blown Away vibe with darker or more country aesthetics.

 

[CU4ever]

I completely agree. D&R truthfully sounded no different than Cry Pretty. It is sort of like David Garcia is a one trick pony, production wise. Everything sounds the same. And the aesthetic of both eras was relatively the same too, the only difference being Cry Pretty had a lot more promotion, so more places for those vibes and aesthetics.

I know Carrie changed her sound for Cry Pretty, but I really want her to go back to a modern country sound like Storyteller had, or a very early Carrie sound like she did her first three albums. I really don’t want another album that is just Cry Pretty Part 3 in look and sound

 

[Zach1998]

Feel like next era is crucial. She either comes back swinging with an undeniable album, and potentially resparks interest from the public and radio.

Or she goes for her third mishandled era (at least from a singles standpoint) and we start seeing her miss the top 20 and potentially the top 40.

She can make a comeback if she wants to; I know she’s 41, I know she’s a female, but she’s Carrie Underwood. The question is does she care anymore to try. If not she will fall by the wayside like every other country female did when they hit 40 (minus Reba), when she had the potential to have a longer shelf life at radio like Reba did, and still get significant airplay into her 50s.

 

[CU4ever]

I know I say this often, but if Carrie wants a break from music/is tired of it, I wish she’d go back to acting. It’s clearly something she wanted to do before, and tried to do as well. It’s great exposure for her. If Reba, Dolly, Tim, Faith, and many others do it, so can she.

I wish she’d go back to the days where she was guest starring in all kinds of stuff. But maybe she’s just not interested in doing that anymore either

 

[angeliccarrie]

After the sound of music, I'm not sure if she would try acting again.

 

[Zach1998]

I know I say this often, but if Carrie wants a break from music/is tired of it, I wish she’d go back to acting. It’s clearly something she wanted to do before, and tried to do as well. It’s great exposure for her. If Reba, Dolly, Tim, Faith, and many others do it, so can she.

I wish she’d go back to the days where she was guest starring in all kinds of stuff. But maybe she’s just not interested in doing that anymore either

See we say this, but to me hasn't the entire D&R era been a break from music for the most part lol. Outside of the short tour and the few pre recorded performances at the very beginning of the era, it doesn't feel like much of a finger was lifted this era.

 

[CU4ever]

See we say this, but to me hasn't the entire D&R era been a break from music for the most part lol. Outside of the short tour and the few pre recorded performances at the very beginning of the era, it doesn't feel like much of a finger was lifted this era.

Yeah, I agree. I still wish I knew why, because it seems like she was tired of it from the beginning, but at that rate, why not just delay the era. I also wasn’t a fan of the prerecorded performances they did. It felt cheap and not super hands on.

I’m really hoping Carrie just wanted an easy little mini-era and maybe she’ll be everywhere again for this next era, but I don’t know if that’s just wishcasting at this point.

 

[montdu39]

We say it was a quiet era, but like she performed on the Grammys, the AMAs, the Today Show, the CMA awards. She had a massive tour, and she performed at her residency in Vegas which got extended.

The only thing people are complaining about is the lack of radio hits. And even there, the lead single Ghost Story reached top 5.

It might feel like a bad era for a Carrie Underwood fan, but it really wasn’t that bad. lol

 

[CU4ever]

The era was so short though. The tour was her smallest yet and Vegas can’t really count for this era since it’s been going on for years.

Ghost Story was released in March 2022, the tour was over not even a year later in February 2023. So the era was essentially eleven months. For reference, Cry Pretty came out in April 2018 and the tour ended in October 2019. The era was basically 16 months, with a lot more promo imo, especially considering things like how Carrie was in her garden essentially all release week