This song was Underwood's debut single after American Idol and the last song she performed before she won. It shot up to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the only overall No. 1 Underwood has had her whole career. It did not chart well on the country charts, even though it is clearly a country song, with pop influence however. Even though this song did not resonate with country fans as much, it started Underwood career with a bang and led to her having countless No. 1's on the country charts following.
This song is one of the best vocal performances Underwood has ever given. Although the production is strong, (which it needs to be, because of the boldness of the song), it does still highlight her vocals and makes them the main focus of the song. When her vocals get stronger, the production gets stronger, as it is following her vocals and not vice versa. The beginning of the song leaves something to be desired, though, with just the piano and a somewhat odd vocal pattern. But when the chorus kicks in the song really takes off. The slow beginning was most likely in order to make the chorus bigger but I think it could have been produced better than it was, maybe with soft acoustic guitar instead of piano. Despite this, the song did what it was intended to do: set Underwood on a path to a successful career.
Overall Rating: 3 and 3/4 crowns
Overall Rating: 3 and 3/4 crowns
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