As Carrie Underwood broke records with the release of “Smoke Break, the leadoff single off of her upcoming album, Storyteller, members of the country music community celebrated her being “return” to the music scene. True, she’s back from having a baby, but in the past year in which she was “on a break,” she managed to release a greatest hits album that has sold close to 400k copies to date, release two hit singles, host the CMAs and launch a clothing line. Given the intensity of her schedule, it’s no wonder that her latest single is about finding time for peace and quiet in the midst of demanding work.
Though she never truly left the music scene, what Carrie has returned to with “Smoke Break” is a rock-infused traditional country sound, that’s more reminiscent her Carnival Ride and Play On era music. The rock-leaning direction makes sense for Underwood given that she pushed the limits of her vocal range and pumped the production to the max on Blown Away and the two singles off of her Greatest Hits: Decade 1 album, “Little Toy Guns,” and “Something In The Water.” If she hadn’t pivoted, and had continued upon a fully produced, pop-influenced trajectory the result likely would have been a “Taylor Swift” style situation with music that fell outside the genre’s blurry lines.
Underwood brought in both new and old faces to help achieve the perfect balance between shifting her sound and crafting a song that longtime fans would love. For the first time since Some Hearts, Underwood invited a different producer — Jay Joyce — in to work his musical magic on the song. She also collaborated with frequent co-writers Hillary Lindsey and Chris DeStefano, who combined have over 30 cuts across her previous releases.
“Smoke Break” also falls in line with many of Underwood’s past hits in that it paints a picture of a universally relatable situation using a third-person perspective. Similar to songs like “Blown Away,” “Two Black Cadillacs,” and “Little Toy Guns,” Underwood acts as the song’s narrator, describing how a “hard-working woman just trying to make a living” and a “big-city hard-working man just trying to climb the ladder” are worn down by their situations. Though the characters may not perfectly mirror every listener’s circumstance, most everyone can relate to the idea of wanting to relax and briefly hit pause on life.
Underwood’s ability to consistently cut songs that tap into these broadly shared feelings has defintely contributed to her mass appeal over the years. With “Smoke Break” as an early indicator of Storyteller’s quality, it’s safe to say that Underwood is going to be adding another successful chapter of into the novel of her career.