Blown Away is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Carrie Underwood. It was released on May 1, 2012, through 19 Recordings and Arista Nashville. Developed over nearly a year following her third headlining tour, Play On Tour, the album presents a deliberate shift in Underwood's artistic direction, as she sought to step away from her established image and engage with darker and more narrative-driven material. It was supported by four singles, "Good Girl", "Blown Away", "Two Black Cadillacs", and "See You Again" as well as the Blown Away Tour which included international dates and Underwood's first concert in the United Kingdom.
Blown Away is a pop album that expands on Underwood's pop-country foundation by leaning more heavily into pop-oriented production while incorporating dramatic, weather-themed imagery. Produced by Mark Bright, it features Underwood as a co-writer on eight of its 14 tracks and balances assertive, uptempo songs such as "Good Girl" with darker narratives, including "Blown Away" and "Two Black Cadillacs", alongside lighter, genre-inflected material elsewhere on the record.
Upon release, Blown Away debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming Underwood's third consecutive studio album to top the chart, and it achieved multi-platinum certifications in several countries. Critically, it received generally favorable reviews and several industry honors, winning at the 2012 American Music Awards and 2013 Country Music Awards of Australia. It was also nominated for various awards, namely the 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards, Country Music Association Awards, Billboard Music Awards and World Music Awards.
Background
After her Play On Tour ended in December 2010, Underwood started to work on her then-upcoming fourth studio album. She spent a long time in finishing it, stating that she "wanted to change things up", and needed to step away from the "celebrity bubble" to "have real things to write about and real things to sing about". According to Gary Overton, a chairman and CEO of Sony Music Nashville, Underwood spent "nearly a year to compile and record the songs". The album's title track, "Blown Away", was written by American songwriters Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear, who also wrote Underwood's previous hit single, "Before He Cheats" (2005). When Underwood received demo version of the title track, she loved the song and began recording it. She then started writing material with several songwriters, including Hillary Lindsey and Kear. Underwood said that writing "Two Black Cadillacs" with them was "so much fun", explaining that they entered the session without knowing what to expect or where it would lead.
Underwood noted that Blown Away would contain material that differs from her previous efforts, since stating that the album features songs with a "darker storyline". She further said she wasn't trying to impress people with what she could do, and she didn't "have to sing to the moon with every single song" with this project. The lead single, "Good Girl", is said to be the album's most upbeat track, with the other tracks that create a much darker record. Ashley Gorley explained that the song came together while he was working in Los Angeles with Chris DeStefano, when Underwood's management suggested the three collaborate. He said that although he had written with each of them separately before, bringing them together proved to be "a great combination".
Composition Blown Away is a pop album that frames Underwood within a lineage of crossover country performers such as Shania Twain and Faith Hill. The album is structured as a substantial, nearly 55-minute release and features a strong degree of authorial involvement, with Underwood co-writing eight songs alongside established Nashville songwriters. Blown Away depicts a shift in the singer's compositional approach, as she and producer Mark Bright lean more heavily into the "pop" side of her established pop-country sound. The album also leans into dramatic, weather-driven imagery and heightened emotional settings. In addition, its sequencing accommodates darker narrative material, as it opens with the assertive lead single "Good Girl" before transitioning into darker, narrative-driven songs. It marks a turn toward darker subject matter, which incorporates a broader stylistic and production range, contrasted to her previous releases Carnival Ride and Play On.
Blown Away favors "stormy" atmospheres, with Underwood sounding most at ease when "leaning into a stiff breeze", and it allows a blues-tinged edge to enter her vocal phrasing. The album balances a tonal shift with lighter, genre-inflected material, as Underwood applies her vocal approach to more upbeat, "feel-good" songwriting elsewhere on the record. Entertainment Weekly described Blown Away as Underwood's most "stadium-rock-friendly" album at the time.
Songs
"Good Girl" is an uptempo, feisty and rock-leaning song, in which Underwood issues a warning about a man who is "not at all what he seems". Driven by Mark Bright's "brooding, atmospheric" production, "Blown Away" centers on a girl sheltering from a tornado while leaving her abusive father behind. "Two Black Cadillacs" tells a dark narrative in which a wife and a mistress form a deadly alliance against a cheating man. Its story associated with "revenge fantasy" was compared to "Before He Cheats". "See You Again" is framed not as a dark or storm-driven piece, talking about reuniting with a loved one. "Do You Think About Me", a mid-tempo song, balances country and pop elements. "Forever Changed" is a "heartbreaking" ballad that addresses the fragility of life. "Nobody Ever Told You" is a reggae-influenced country-pop song, built around a message of encouragement and self-worth. A breezy, Calypso-flavored song, "One Way Ticket" is inspired by Kenny Chesney's styles, suggesting that it is "impossible to take life too seriously". "Thank God for Hometowns" is a nostalgic tribute to small-town values and roots. The song grounds its sentiment in concrete details of familiar faces, old friends, and specific memories, as it opens with a return home prompted by personal loss and emphasizes the emotional pull of long-standing community ties rather than generalized hometown imagery. "Good in Goodbye", co-written with Hillary Lindsey and Ryan Tedder, contains echoes of Underwood's 2007 single, "So Small". "Leave Love Alone", built around a jangly guitar-driven arrangement, is a confession of emotional dependency set against a "cool, swampy" musical backdrop. "Cupid's Got a Shotgun" is a "rowdy and sinister" track, likened to Miranda Lambert and Gretchen Wilson on a "ludicrously fun"; it also features a guitar instruments from Brad Paisley. "Wine After Whiske" is a "stone-faced" country ballad that leans into melancholy, and it leaves "more questions than answers". A "Mutt Lange-penned" closer "Who Are You", can be regarded as either a pop-country love song or a faith-oriented anthem.
Promotion Marketing and packaging
With the release of her highly anticipated fourth album, Underwood made numerous television, radio, and online appearances. On April 29, 2012, Underwood was featured on Nightline, and a day after, Good Morning America aired an exclusive interview. Later that evening, Underwood performed "Good Girl" on Late Show with David Letterman as well as holding a concert on the Live on Letterman webcast concert series streaming live online. On May 1, Underwood returned to Good Morning America to perform a special live outdoor concert in Times Square, followed by an iHeartRadio Live performance streaming live online that evening. She appeared on American Idol on May 3 with a special performance of the title track from her album. Underwood also made appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on May 9, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on May 10, and Dancing with the Stars on May 15, followed by the Billboard Music Awards on May 20. On May 26, she headlined at Bayou Country Superfest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, performing several new songs from the album.
Consisting of fourteen tracks, Blown Away became available as CD, digital download, and streaming formats. The UK and Japanese edition feature four bonus tracks—"Cowboy Casanova", "Before He Cheats", "Last Name", and "Jesus, Take the Wheel"—released from her previous albums. The cover of Blown Away reflects Underwood's evolution from the "girl next door" image associated with her early career to a more stylized and dramatic persona. In the cover, she is shown gazing into the distance, dressed in a gray gown whose extended train billows behind her. Previously known for songs centered on faith, compassion, and moral clarity, Underwood is depicted in cover of "Blown Away" as an "airbrushed, supermodel heroine", posed in a glamorous gown compared to Angelina Jolie at the Academy Awards. The album's cover artwork was later recognized by The Boot, which ranked Blown Away first on its list of the singer's Top 10 single, EP and album covers.
Singles and sales The first single from the album, "Good Girl" was first teased on January 25, 2012, with Underwood describing it as "blow you guys away". The song was leaked on February 21, two days before of its official release. It was released on February 23, and the music video for the track premiered on March 12. Commercially, "Good Girl" debuted at number thirty on the Billboards Hot Country Songs chart and number twenty-four on Billboard Hot 100. The song eventually climbed to a peak of eighteen on the Hot 100, and it topped at the Hot Country Songs and Canada Country chart. Furthermore, the track has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA and Platinum by Music Canada. "Blown Away" was released on July 9, as the second single from the album. The song peaked at number twenty on the Hot 100, and number two on Hot Country Songs. It also topped the Country Airplay chart and reached 155 in the UK Singles Chart. "Blown Away" was certified 5× Platinum by the RIAA and Platinum by the CRIA.
The third single of the album, "Two Black Cadillacs", was released on November 18, 2012. The music video for the song was released on January 23, 2013. The song peaked at number two on the Country Airplay chart and number four on Hot Country Songs, also certified Platinum by the RIAA. On March 18, Underwood announced via Twitter that "See You Again" would be the fourth single off the album, and it impacted Country radio on April 15. The song reached number two on the Country Airplay chart and number seven on Hot Country Songs. On August 10, 2015, the song was certified Platinum by the RIAA.
Tour
To promote the album, Underwood embarked on the Blown Away Tour which contained an international run of shows during the summer of 2012, including her first-ever United Kingdom concert. It took place at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London on June 21. The tour was announced on May 1, 2012, and it began on September 14 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Royal Albert Hall concert sold out within the first 90 minutes of public ticket sales. The opening act for Underwood on the North American leg of the tour was country singer Hunter Hayes. Underwood donated a dollar from each ticket sold on the North American leg, to support the Red Cross disaster relief. A second North American leg of the tour was announced for the spring of 2013. The tour ultimately ran through May 2013 and played to over one million fans over the course of 112 shows.
A concert DVD, The Blown Away Tour: Live, was released on August 13, 2013. The footage was captured during Underwood's concert in Ontario, California on March 3. The DVD includes more than twenty songs performed by Underwood on the tour, as well as exclusive interviews with Underwood and Raj Kapoor, a tour director of the Blown Away Tour, and other behind-the-scenes footage about the tour. The DVD has since been certified Gold by the RIAA.
Critical reception