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Sound and feel do mean a lot, but country records really survive on the strength of their songs, and the remarkable thing about Carnival Ride is that it's stronger song for song than Some Hearts, some of this due to Carrie herself, who bears four songwriting credits here, often in conjunction with some permutation of Steve McEwan and Hillary Lindsey, who pen a bunch of other tunes here.
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It's a straight-up Carrie Underwood album, and a very good one, with a handful of romps and laments that exist mainly to set the stage for the big-voiced, '80s-influenced, Southern-accented power ballads she sings so well.
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Carnival Ride simply doesn't offer anything for the unconverted in terms of Underwood's growth either as a vocalist or as an artist.
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A record with stronger songs that somehow manages to sound just as banal as her first.
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Carnival Ride covers its bases impeccably, from the roof-raising opener 'Flat on the Floor' to the gorgeous, torchy ballad 'I Know You Won't' and the already-massive anthem 'So Small.'
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The Oklahoman delivers in spades on her sophomore effort, on which she was much more involved in the creative process.
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Carnival Ride is more country and therefore more confident.
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Carnival Dreams, a worthy successor to Underwood's 6-million-selling debut, will surely install the blond belter from Checotah, Okla., on the crossover throne once occupied by Faith Hill and Shania Twain.
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Carnival Ride doesn’t include anything as stand-alone stunning as the song she’ll still be singing at state fairs when she’s 64, but it’s a much better front-to-back collection than her debut.
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Cheery and unassuming, Underwood is a pleasant oddity: a pop star whose central belief is her own powerlessness.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 79 out of 136
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Mixed: 4 out of 136
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Negative: 53 out of 136
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Nov 8, 2018Eww. A disgusting album by one of the worst artists in country music history.
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Sep 17, 2018
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May 16, 2018Filled with beautiful and deep ballads that go to more lively music, Carrie follows the quality standard of her previous album.