Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood’s “Somethin’ Bad” was a highly anticipated duet set to appear on Lambert’s newest album “Platinum”. Released just last month as a single and debuted at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, the song surprisingly turned out… not so good. “Stand on the bar, stomp your feet, start clapping / Got a real good feeling something bad’s about to happen” is the line the song’s title is taken from, however, these ladies don’t really sound like they know what “somethin’ bad” truly is.
The essence of the song was intended to answer a kind of music known as “bro-country” that has been downgrading female country singers compared to the good old boys, in terms of airtime and general perception. So the answer is girl power! A double-dose of big hair, big voice, and a solid country tune! Except that “Somethin’ Bad” doesn’t deliver that. Standing on the bar stomping and clapping sounds more like a hot mess of silly tipsy girls than anything else. The lyrics tell the tale of a runaway bride, who finds a friend in the street and they run off to “The Big Easy” city of New Orleans together. We can’t wait to hear about all the trouble they get into once they get there, but we’re never satisfied.
The overall style of the song doesn’t match the two singer’s strengths, nor does the key, and as a result, they sound uncomfortable and un-country. The verses are semi-rapped and the words shallow, so that even though the girls are each singing their own character’s lines, they are so similar in quality that they could easily swap and no one would know the difference. The story’s barely present. Then there’s a gap in the middle of the song that you hope is going to lead to something more than the chorus on repeat till the song ends, but it doesn’t. On top of that, the two country stars seem to be emulating more Joan Jett than Dolly Parton, in terms of power women. The chant “wo-oh-oh” throughout is fun to sing along with, but doesn’t make up for the lack of substance in the rest of the song. It was a great idea in concept, but turned out to be much less than originally expected. Better luck next time, ladies.