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Billboard.com

Here, the artist seems to finally feel comfortable in her own skin. It's a wide-ranging album-she's in love, out of love, light-hearted and playful.

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Entertainment Weekly

As always, her vocal ability is beyond reproach; a crack in the immaculately polished veneer, however, would be welcome too.

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Boston Globe

The earnest ballads outnumber the uptempo stuff with a lower hit-to-miss ratio and feel a lot more generic in terms of who is/could be singing them.

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The New York Times

No amount of hackneyed songwriting can undermine Ms. Underwood’s voice, which is consistently impressive, capable of pneumatic thrusts. It enlivens plenty of moments here.

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Paste Magazine

On Play On her approach results in a scattershot collection that too often mistakes bombast for sincerity ('Unapologize') and sap for sentiment ('Temporary Home').

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All Music Guide

Carrie takes a much stronger presence as a writer here, co-authoring seven of the 13 songs, and she's attracted to hookless showstoppers designed to showcase her powerful voice, all glory notes with no glory. When she sticks to tunes written solely by the professionals, Play On does have some slick pleasures.

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Slant Magazine

She still lacks the grit and the distinctive, intuitive phrasing of the best country singers, but the better moments of Play On suggest that she's capable of developing into more than a technically proficient cipher.

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Los Angeles Times

Play On exhibits a distressing lack of dimension for a singer with Underwood's obvious abilities.

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PopMatters

It’s not all unremittingly awful; generally, all the faux-shitkicking glossy country Bon Jovi stuff is half-way listenable. But brother, do the ballads ever stink.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 57 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

jess m gave it a10:
Carrie's best album yet. Lyrically, musically, and vocally beautiful. What a fantastic piece of art.

Matt C. gave it a4:
Carrie is making the mistake of going pop to try to crossover without remixing her songs, so in the end she loses what little country sound she had. Also her songs are pretty much do-overs of her last album, with the lyrics just switched around.

Matt S gave it a10:
I understand why the score is so low - this album is definitely a grower and on first listen the album might not seem so perfect. But it is.

Simon S gave it a10:
First off some of the critics reviews were way to harsh! Sure this isnt the best album in the entire universe but in my opinion it is pretty good. I also dont think listening to the album once will really give you a good feel for it. I have listened to the album A LOT! I actually cant seem to stop playing it! I LOVE it! There are sometthings she could have done differently and listening to the demos I proably wouldnt have picked that exact song line up, but It is how it is. I still think this is a strong album. Carrie's voice is unbeatable! It just doesnt get any better then what she has! My personal favorites on this album are: "What Can I Say" (AMAZING!!!), "Cowboy Casanova", "Songs like This", "Someday When I Stop Loving You" and "Undo It"! Buy the album!!!

Tammy D gave it a10:
A great mix of contemporary and traditional country.

Estelle B gave it a10:
Her voice is immaculate, her delivery heart-felt. The songs, personal favourite "What Can I Say", are just fantastic!

Esteban O. gave it a10:
Carrie made a great album...but not excellent! lyrics are so good!!

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