Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats

February 28, 2017 Critic Jonni 0 Comments


Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood |

I was going to do Blake Shelton's "Honey Bee", since my iTunes shuffler keeps playing it day-in-day-out, but the embed code is disabled on the music video, and so I chose my favourite country song, instead. I don't know what it is about this song, but Carrie Underwood really hits home with every note and every word of this awesome track. This one always gets stuck in my head every time I hear it and it is currently my alarm to wake me up in the morning. Carrie Underwood demolishes her boyfriend's car because he's cheating on her, and then her temper lashes out to the entire street. maybe next time he'll think "Before He Cheats".

Carrie Underwood is a major country female singer, who has been doing well ever since she won American Idol. She is totally on her game and one of the leading female country singers at the moment. She's been trying to hit the UK for some time, and even performed on The X Factor; although her albums chart well over here, her singles have not faired well at all. Country music is just difficult to sell to the UK market, but if she keeps pushing, I'm sure she'll make it over here. Many others have done so, so why not Carrie Underwood? This song is written by Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins. It has won a bunch of awards, namely a GRAMMY in 2007.

Directed by Roman White, the music video is a full narrative that completely relates to the song, in a literal translation. There is also a killer performance visual snapshot throughout. The ending is a homage to the 1976 Brian De Palma film Carrie, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

The narrative sees Carrie Underwood follow through with every single thing mentioned in the chorus of the song. She scratches a key along the side of a 'souped-up four-wheel drive'. An image of her name is carved onto leather seats, which we presume are inside the car. She brandishes a Louisville Slugger (a branded baseball bat) around, smashing 'both head lights'. We then see her slash all four tyres.

As the video goes on, the car becomes a battered mess. But that's not the end of the video, oh no! We see her walking with a group of girls. We see her guy making out with another girl. He is played by actor Tabb Shoup. Carrie Underwood catches up with him, and she freezes for a bit, seeing him with another girl; she then drops his keys in his half-empty drink and walks away. We see him pick up the keys, and it's such a shame we don't get to see his reaction to finding his cherished four-wheel drive battered and crushed.

Instead, we see Carrie Underwood turn into Carrie White, and completely unleash her anger whilst walking down a street. Windows blow open and electrical signs shatter. All the while, a gale force wind is blowing. What an incredible ending scene.

Not only that, but there's a whole performance piece shown throughout. Carrie Underwood proves exactly why she deserves to be on stage. She feels this song and unleashes the emotional energy it deserves, giving it her all within the performance side of the video. Anyone who is lucky enough to see her live are definitely in for a treat. She is one of a few singers on my must-see-live list because I bet her shows are out of this world.

This music video has got it all, and it doesn't surprise me that it won 'Music Video of the Year' at the 2007 Academy of Country Music Awards, as well as 'Video of the Year' and 'Female Video of the Year' at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Overall, it is absolutely incredible; completely relatable to the song, and shows Carrie Underwood off perfectly. This is one music video I could watch over and over and over again.
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