Carrie Underwood included a song called “The Bullet” on her upcoming Cry Pretty album. The song, written by Marc Beeson, Andy Albert and Allen Shamblin is one of four on the 13-track record that Underwood didn’t write, but felt it was important to include on her record.
Underwood originally heard the song, which says, “You can blame it on hate or blame it on guns, but mamas ain’t supposed to bury their sons / Left a hole in her heart and it still ain’t done / The bullet keeps on goin‘,” before the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting. But after that tragedy, the Oklahoma native felt compelled to record the tune.
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“We had that song on hold before a lot of the big incidents happened, before Vegas,” Underwood shares with PopCulture.com and other media. “After that it was like, ‘OK. Do we still do this? Am I the one to do this?’ And I know it is a hot button issue, for sure.”
Underwood hopes that “The Bullet,” which also says, “Through every branch of his family tree / Every birthday that he’ll never see / Every chance to live a good life that was stolen / Through the son he’ll never get to raise / His daughter on her wedding day / Wishin’ it was his hands she was holdin’ / ‘Til every heart that’s left to break is broken / The bullet keeps on goin‘,” will at least make people aware of the senseless acts of violence that happen all around them, every day.
“I feel like we, as a society, we are so conditioned and so used to seeing bad things on the news every night,” Underwood says. “So, we really don’t stop to think about all the other people involved and that’s what this song is about. You say, ‘Wow that’s really sad that that person lost their life.’
“But, then you’re not like, ‘Oh. Their mama. Oh, they have two kids. Oh my gosh,’” she continues. “You don’t think about that as much, and one of the great things I love about how the song is written is, you don’t know what happened. You don’t know what the incident was that they are dealing with. It could have been military, it could have been some sort of street violence. It could have been a cop. It could have been anybody. It doesn’t matter what it was, it matters that there are people dealing with this.”
The American Idol alum is proud to include “The Bullet” on her latest project, but when she kicks off her Cry Pretty Tour 360 in May, she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to include it in the set list.
“Unfortunately, it’s a subject that I feel like way too many people are going to be able to relate to,” she says. “It is a beautifully written song and I don’t know if I could ever sing it live.”
Cry Pretty will be released on Friday, Sept. 14. The record is currently available for pre-order on her website.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Shearer – 2018 ACMA
