"Dirty Laundry" | ||||
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Single by Carrie Underwood | ||||
from the album Storyteller | ||||
Released | September 5, 2016 | |||
Format | Digital download | |||
Recorded | 2015 | |||
Genre | Country pop | |||
Length | 3:25 | |||
Label | Arista Nashville | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Jay Joyce | |||
Carrie Underwood singles chronology | ||||
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"Dirty Laundry" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Carrie Underwood from her fifth studio album, Storyteller (2015). The song was written by Zach Crowell, Ashley Gorley, and Hillary Lindsey, with production from Jay Joyce, and was released as the fourth single from the album in the United States and Canada. The single was shipped to country radio on August 22 and made its official impact on September 5.
"Dirty Laundry" is a song about infidelity. About the song, co-writer Ashley Gorley said, "Zach's tracks have a theme of being a little wild and dark and crazy...He was playing these tracks we went through, and all I remember is stumbling into the Ajax line, and that sounding awesome." Co-writer Hillary Lindsey said of the song, "I was so sick … They made me sing it, and I was mortified. We turned it in, and I remember Chris Oglesby [BMG vice president, creative] and Daniel Lee [BMG senior creative director] saying it was one of their favorite songs I had turned in in a while, and how great it sounded, and I was so sick."
"It's a take on a cheater in a familiar way, with the lipstick on the collar and the red wine, and there's all these tell-tale signs that he was with another woman, and it shows on his dirty laundry," Underwood said of the song. "But it's also like she airs it out for the whole world to see."
Producer and co-writer Zach Crowell said of the experience, "There was no talk of murder in this song. I wrote "Church Bells" with Hillary. I was lucky enough to write that song as well. That was the first song I’ve ever killed someone in the song. It was cool to do it, [because] we knew we were kind of taking a shot at a Carrie song, and we knew, 'Oh, she would like that, if we killed this guy.' She's not afraid to murder people in songs, but we did not kill him in "Dirty Laundry." We just announced it to the whole town."
"Dirty Laundry" was met with positive reviews from critics. Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it "one of the best six tracks on the album", and noted it as the album highlight.Idolator praised the song stating it as "a remarkable one-two punch that blends clever lyrics with the muscular snap of arena country-rock".