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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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Play On exhibits a distressing lack of dimension for a singer with Underwood's obvious abilities.
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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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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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On Play On her approach results in a scattershot collection that too often mistakes bombast for sincerity ('Unapologize') and sap for sentiment ('Temporary Home').
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 80 out of 141
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Mixed: 8 out of 141
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Negative: 53 out of 141
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Sep 29, 2017
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Nov 8, 2018
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Sep 17, 2018