Carrie Underwood ventures into uncharted territory

CARRIE Underwood is now “American Idol’s” most successful alumna—but the winner in Season Four of the talent search isn’t about to rest on her laurels. When her “Play On” tour wrapped up in December 2010, she decided to “step away from the ‘celebrity bubble’ to find real things to write and sing about.” The result is “Blown Away,” her fourth studio album, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last week.

Has the singer’s time away from the spotlight been productive? For the most part, yes. Her latest album doesn’t veer too far away from the countrified pop-music mold that has been Carrie’s ticket to fame, but on point of musicality and thematic pertinence, it enables the country-music queen to venture into heretofore uncharted territory.

The pop-rock-tinged album opener, “Good Girl,” the catchy “Nobody Ever Told You,” the finger-snapping “Leave Love Alone,” and the heady honky-tonk swagger of “Cupid’s Got A Shotgun” will no doubt bolster Underwood’s hit-churning brand—but tunes of a darker subject matter allow Underwood to stretch the parameters of her comfort zone.

Abusive father

“Blown Away” sets itself apart from the other tracks not only because of its noir-ish melody, but also because of its thematic daring—a vengeful girl locks up her abusive father in the cellar during a tornado! And in “Two Black Cadillacs,”  Carrie sings about a wife and her husband’s mistress, who conspire to give their two-timing man a lesson he’ll never forget!

The stirring piano-backed “Forever Changed” tackles a dark topic—Alzheimer’s disease: “Some days, (Mom) talks about aunt Rose, the sister she lost/ Asking when she’s coming over, and why she hasn’t called/ Some days, I just hold her fragile hand/ (And) it just kills me/ Watching her memories slip away a little more…”

The album’s best suit remains Underwood’s sturdy, evocative voice, which allows her to convey a wide range of emotions: In the hit-bound ballad, “Good in Goodbye,” for instance, she runs the gamut from wistful longing to relief as she muses about how she’s better off not getting the love she wanted!

Anja Aguilar

Like Carrie Underwood, Anja Aguilar is also a former singing champion: She won the Senior division of “Little Big Star’s” second season in 2006, when she was still a precocious tyke known as Angellie Urquico. With the release of her eponymously titled debut album, Anja finally comes into her own.

We’re happy to note that Aguilar hasn’t grown into a generic-sounding diva who uses her steely pipes to transmogrify into a Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey knockoff, like many young belters these days.

Anja’s moving renditions of Vehnee Saturno’s “To Reach You” and “Nasaan Ang Pangako?” demonstrate that, as a performer, she is as technically proficient as she is intelligent. In her superior cover of Willie Revillame’s throaty “I Love You,” she utilizes those hefty chest tones judiciously—and that is beautiful music to our ears!