Carrie Underwood has never shied away from the public when it comes to expressing her deep Christian faith. Her song “Something in the Water” is one way to prove this.
Released in 2014 as the lead single of Underwood’s compilation album Greatest Hits: Decade #1, the song was a crossover success reaching No. 1 both on Hot Christian Songs and the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, where it remained on the top spot for an impressive seven weeks. It was her longest No.1 reign on that chart and the third-longest No.1 reign among women in the chart’s history.
Not only that, but the song was her fastest climbing single on the Hot Country Songs chart. With fourteen chart-toppers on such a chart, Underwood expands her record as the female country artist with the most No. 1 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart, breaking her own Guinness Book record of ten, set in 2010.
But we bet Underwood never knows when to stop. During the 57th Grammy Awards, she took home Best Country Solo Performance for “Something in the Water,” marking her seventh career Grammy Award.
Behind The Spiritual Heart-Tugging Song of Underwood
Written by Carrie Underwood with Chris DeStefano and Brett James, “Something in the Water” sings about the importance of baptism and conversion and how it changes your life.
“It’s really kind of a joyous, uplifting song about changing your life for the better and kind of having that ‘a-ha’ moment, to waking up and your life being different from that moment forward,” the singer explained.
“They said, ‘Just a little faith, it’ll all get better.’ So I followed that preacher man down to the river. And now I’m changed. And now I’m stronger. There must’ve been something in the water. Oh, there must’ve been something in the water,” the song goes.
Grammy-Award winning singer-songwriter Chris DeStefano also walked us through the fruition of “Something in the Water.”
“Going in to write with Carrie, it’s always an adventure because obviously, she can do so many different things stylistically,” DeStefano said. “I had this little musical idea I brought in. It was basically just a lot of instruments, and the vibe was kinda there. It just had an emotion to it. I started playing it in the room for Brett and Carrie, and I remember saying, ‘Well, you guys are hopefully gonna like this, or hate it.'”
Of course, the other writers quickly agreed to DeStefano’s idea. Meanwhile, Underwood provided the title of the song. “She said, ‘I have this song title, ‘Something in the Water,’ and she kind of explained what she wanted to write about, and we were just immediately like, ‘Oh gosh, that would really be beautiful over this,'” DeStefano continued. “So we immediately knew. It was just one of those things where the whole vibe of the song really began at that point, really strong right from the get-go.”
And the rest was history! The moment “Something in the Water” was released, it then met widespread critical acclaim.
“Carrie Underwood offers a message of faith in times of trouble,” Billboard said. Rolling Stone also praised the song, saying that “Underwood sings in the soaring song showcasing her heavenly high vocal range” and even described the song as a “spiritual heartstring-tugger.”
The song is also accompanied by a similarly joyful and uplifting music video, which earned a Music Video of the Year nomination from the Country Music Association Awards. You can watch it below.
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Carrie Underwood