Carrie Underwood’s ‘Before He Cheats’ Was Written for Another Woman
Carrie Underwood was sorta the other woman with regards to her song about getting back at a guy and his "other woman." "Before He Cheats" was imagined for a different CMA Awards winner — someone who was as hot as Texas in July at the time.
During this Secret History of Country Music episode, learn how writers Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins were targeting Gretchen Wilson with "Before He Cheats" and why Underwood herself was nervous to record the song. She thought there'd be some serious backlash — that's crazy, right?
You'll also learn two great nuggets about the music video during this mini-history lesson. It was filmed in downtown Nashville, but not everyone on set was supposed to be there. A real-life drunk stumbled in front of Underwood during filming, and he made he made the final edit! Honestly, he made it better.
"Before He Cheats" would go five-times platinum and win a Grammy and CMA Award. The 2006 crossover hit is Underwood's signature song to this day. It's really the song that forced everyone to see this sweet Oklahoma girl as a grown woman with a delicious dark side. She's leaned further into that dark side on each album, with songs about cheating, deception and even murder rising to the top of the charts.
The Secret History of Country Music is a new weekly series hosted by Taste of Country News host Ania Hammar. We'll go deeper inside the stories of country music's biggest hits, moments and figures. Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan are two artists that will be featured soon. Be sure to subscribe to Taste of Country's YouTube channel so you never miss a new episode:
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