Carrie UnderwoodCry Pretty

More exposed and adventurous than anything she'd done, that powerhouse voice finally cracking open. The title track is raw vulnerability about the face people wear in public, and it aches. 'Drinking Alone' sinks into moody barroom smoke, slow and bruised. 'The Champion' with Ludacris swings the other way, built to fill an arena and rattle the rafters. She co-wrote nine of thirteen and you can feel her fingerprints. Country with the guard down.