Before He Cheats

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"Before He Cheats"
"Before He Cheats" cover
Single by Carrie Underwood
from the album Some Hearts
Released August 2006
Genre Country/Pop
Length 3:19
Label Arista Records
Writer(s) Chris Tompkins
Josh Kear
Producer(s) Mark Bright
Certification Platinum (RIAA)
Chart positions
  • #16 (U.S.)
    • #1 (U.S. Country)
  • #18 (Canada Hot 100)
    • #1 (Canadian Country Singles)
Carrie Underwood singles chronology
"Don't Forget to Remember Me"
(2006)
"Before He Cheats"
(2006)
"Wasted"(2007)

"Before He Cheats" is the fifth single released from Carrie Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts.

Contents

[edit] Mainstream

"Before He Cheats" became a single with cross-over appeal to the mainstream pop genre, similar to hit singles from Faith Hill and LeAnn Rimes. The single garnered interest on the Internet, as it appeared in both the "Top 10 Pop Songs" and the "Top 20" songs on iTunes. This song also proved to be a cross-over hit by peaking at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, which makes this Underwood's fifth consecutive top 50 entry and third top 20 hit.

The day after the CMA Awards were held, "Before He Cheats" had a surge of digital downloads, reaching number 11 on iTunes top 100. As of April, 2007 this single has sold 918,491 digital downloads, therefore, the single will be certified Platinum by the RIAA in coming weeks.

Additionally, "Before He Cheats" received increased airplay on top 40 stations, and reached a peak of number 15 on Mediabase.

[edit] Music video

Underwood in the music video.
Underwood in the music video.
Underwood in the music video.
Underwood in the music video.

In the beginning of the music video Underwood is seen going out to a parking-lot with a Louisville Slugger to eventually damage her boyfriend's four-wheel drive for "cheating" on her. In other scenes, the "boyfriend" is seen kissing another woman. As the video progresses Underwood takes the stage to sing as various objects behind her, such as lamps are seen exploding. At one point, a screen-shot of the front seat of the car is seen with Underwood's named carved in it, which she mentions during the chorus of the song. Towards the ending Underwood walks down a street, singing along with the song, while different objects are shown flying across the air, glasses are seen shattering, and light bulbs explodin. At the very end of the music video the car is shown completely destroyed.

Before He Cheats made GACTV music video history by debuting at #1. This was the first time a debut video hit #1 on the first week. It also marks the third consecutive #1 music video on GACTV for Underwood. It made history on CMT's Top Twenty Countdown for being at #1 for a consecutive 5 weeks. In December 2006, "Before He Cheats" was named the best video of 2006 by CMT's Top 20 Countdown. It also finished #2 in GACTV's Video of the Year for 2006 behind Trace Adkins's "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk". Proving it's cross-over success, the video made a debut at #15 on the VSpot Top 20 Countdown.

The car smashing scene was one of the most talked about events in music videos, because the on-screen personality of Underwood.

[edit] Chart performance

"Before He Cheats" was the third country single to be released from Carrie Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts. It was heavily tipped to be the second single to be lifted from the album after "Jesus, Take The Wheel"; however, Underwood and her record label plugged for a "Don't Forget To Remember Me" release in time for graduation. During this time, many stations started to put "Before He Cheats" into heavy rotation, without any word from the label confirming it as a future single. As a result of the "unofficial" airplay from some stations, the song was able to chart for 20 weeks on the Hot Country Songs chart, reaching #48 before being officially released. Some may speculate that the heavy rotation of "Before He Cheats" as an album cut prevented "Don't Forget To Remember Me" from topping the Billboard country charts (although the song did top Radio & Records' country charts). Once the song was confirmed as a single, it cracked the Top 40 on the country charts, and has since gone on to become Underwood's second #1 on the Billboard country charts. It is also her third Top 20 single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #16. On the 4th week of 2007, it leaped 29-23 on the Billboard Pop 100 chart, proving that it is still a great hit. On the 14th week of 2007, it reached a new peak of 19 the Pop 100 & Pop 100 Airplay respectively.

[edit] External links

Peak
Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 16
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 19
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay 22
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Airplay 22
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks 13
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs 12
U.S. billbald 1
Canadian Top 100 BDS 18
Canadian Country Singles 1
Mediabase Country Airplay Chart 1
Quaday Hot 100 Singles Philippines 1