Undo It

"Undo It"
Single by Carrie Underwood
from the album Play On
Released May 24, 2010
(see release history)
Format Music download
Genre Country pop
Length 2:57 (album version)
Label Arista Nashville
Writer(s) Kara DioGuardi
Marti Frederiksen
Luke Laird
Carrie Underwood
Producer(s) Mark Bright
Certification Platinum (RIAA)[1]
Carrie Underwood singles chronology
"Temporary Home"
(2009)		 "Undo It"
(2010)		 "Mama's Song"
(2010)

"Undo It" is a song written by Carrie Underwood, Kara DioGuardi, Marti Frederiksen, and Luke Laird. It was made available to digital retailers on October 27, 2009, and was released as an official single on May 24, 2010. The song is the third single from Underwood's third studio album, Play On.

Underwood performed the song at the 2010 American Idol finale, as well as at the 2010 CMT Music Awards. "Undo It" has sold 1,202,000 million copies in the United States, making it the 5th biggest song of her career. It is also her first song to chart outside the US and Canada, peaking at Number 85 in the Australian Music Chart.

Undo It was ranked number 29 on Billboard's year-end charts for Top Country Songs.[2]

Content
Carrie Underwood "Undo It" (2009)
17 second sample from Carrie Underwood's "Undo It".
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Underwood told The Boot that the idea for the "Undo It" hook came accidentally. "The guys had their guitars and they were playing something kind of bluesy, and Kara's got such a great R&B sense about her," she said. "And I started, 'Na, na, na-ing' to whatever they were playing. And they were like, 'What if that was the hook?' I said, 'Aw, I don't know?' And before you knew it, we had 'Uh, uh, uh undo it.' I mean, who would have thought? How do you write that down on paper? It was something that it didn't take that long to write and it's so much fun to sing on stage, and people get into it."[3]

Critical reception

The song has received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Juli Thanki of Engine 145 gave the song a thumbs-down, calling it "a third-rate tune from Kelly Clarkson’s reject pile" and saying that it had "deeply stupid lyrics."[4] Roughstock critic Matt Bjorke rated the song two-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that it had "catchy repeatable lyrics" but concluded his review by saying "she can do so much better."[5] In his review for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the song "strained sassiness."[6] Billboard critic Deborah Evans Price was more positive in her review, comparing it to the "vengeful Carrie persona" of "Before He Cheats" and saying that it had "crisp, compelling" production.[7] Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song an A- calling Undo It a short, sweet, and undeniably catchy song which features both “We Will Rock You” drum riffs and twangy fiddle, as if those two things together are as natural as peanut butter and chocolate.[8]

Music video

CMT premiered the video for "Undo It" on May 7, 2010. The video features shots of Underwood performing the song in concert along with shots of the background video played during the performance of the song in the Play On Tour. The video was directed by Chris Hicky.

Chart performance

"Undo It" debuted at number 43 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of May 1, 2010. The song hit number one for the week of August 7, 2010, giving Underwood her tenth number one on this chart. The song debuted at number 86 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 before the release of her album Play On, and re-entered the chart at number 95 following its release as an official single. After performing the song on the finale of American Idol, the song rose to a new peak of number 25, becoming the second most successful single from Play On. It then rose to number 23 after performing it at the 2010 CMT Music Awards. The song became her eleventh Top 40 Hot 100 hit. The song re-entered once again at number 67 and stayed there for five more weeks before it dropped off the chart. On the week of June 27, 2011, "Undo It" entered the Australian Singles Chart at number 85, becoming her first entrance to the chart in her career.

So far, 1,202,000 copies of "Undo It" were sold in the United States.[9]

Chart (2009-2011) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA) 85
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[10] 43
US Billboard Hot 100[11] 23
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[12] 1
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[13] 25

Year-end charts

Chart (2010) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 88
US Country Songs (Billboard)[15] 29
Preceded by
"Rain Is a Good Thing"
by Luke Bryan		 Billboard Hot Country Songs
number-one single
August 7, 2010 		Succeeded by
"Lover, Lover"
by Jerrod Niemann

Release history

Region Date Format Label
United States October 27, 2009 Music download Arista Nashville
Canada Sony Music
United States May 24, 2010 Airplay Arista Nashville
Canada Sony Music
United Kingdom May 25, 2010
Australia June 10, 2011 Music download, airplay
New Zealand

Awards and nominations

2010 Teen Choice Awards

Year Recipient Award Result
2010 "Undo It" Choice Country Song style="background: #FDD; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="no table-no2"|Nominated

2010 CMA Triple-Play Awards

Year Recipient Award Result
2010 "Undo It" Triple-Play Songwriter (along with "Cowboy Casanova" and "Temporary Home") style="background: #99FF99; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="yes table-yes2"|Won

2011 CMT Music Awards

Year Recipient Award Result
2011 "Undo It" Video of the Year style="background: #FDD; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="no table-no2"|Nominated
2011 "Undo It" Female Video of the Year style="background: #FDD; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="no table-no2"|Nominated

2011 BMI Awards

Year Recipient Award Result
2011 "Undo It" Songwriter of the Year style="background: #99FF99; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="yes table-yes2"|Won

Sales and certification

As a promotional single (before the release of Play On):

United States: 28,000

As a confirmed single (after the release of Play On):

United States: 1,202,000[9]

The song has officially been certified Platinum by the RIAA.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "RIAA - Gold & Platinum: Carrie Underwood singles". RIAA.com. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  2. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2010/hot-country-songs?begin=21&order=position
  3. ↑ Hughes, Donna (14 June 2010). "Carrie Underwood, 'Undo It' - Story Behind the Lyrics". The Boot. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  4. ↑ Thanki, Juli (17 March 2010). "Carrie Underwood — "Undo It"". Engine 145. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  5. ↑ Bjorke, Matt (19 March 2010). "Carrie Underwood — "Undo It"". Roughstock. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  6. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Play On review". Allmusic. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  7. ↑ Price, Deborah Evans (4 June 2010). ""Undo It" review". Billboard. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  8. ↑ http://www.countryuniverse.net/2010/06/05/single-review-carrie-underwood-undo-it/
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/465548/ask-billboard-idol-izing-carrie-underwood-lauren-alaina
  10. ↑ "Carrie Underwood Album & Song Chart History" Canadian Hot 100 for Carrie Underwood. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  11. ↑ "Carrie Underwood Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Hot 100 for Carrie Underwood. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  12. ↑ "Carrie Underwood Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Hot Country Songs for Carrie Underwood. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  13. ↑ "Carrie Underwood Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Adult Pop Songs for Carrie Underwood.
  14. ↑ "Year End Charts - Year-end Albums - Top Country Albums". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  15. ↑ "Best of 2010: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.

External links