Originally written for Narnia’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, See You Again is the 4th single off Carrie Underwood’s platinum-selling album “Blown Away.”
After the dark tale of a wife and a mistress killing off the man who betrayed them both in “Two Black Cadillacs,” which followed the story of a girl letting her father die as a tornado blows through her town in “Blown Away,” “See You Again,” cowritten with Hillary Lindsey and David Hodges, comes as a nice change of theme for Carrie Underwood. Although the body count is still rising.
Long gone are the stories of death, although this song is still somehow about death, “See You Again” isn’t as specific as its predecessors. It doesn’t tell a story with a set point and finish – it’s ambiguous, serving to express a sentiment. For some, its ambiguity can be held negatively but one of See You Again‘s strong point is its ability to feel relatable regardless of what it was truly intended for.
A song about faith, “See You Again” is about reuniting with a loved one long after death has taken them to a place where “the water meets the sky.” But it doesn’t necessarily have to be about reuniting post-death. It can simply be about seeing someone again after a long period of travels or a period of being apart from each other.
It is probably one of Underwood’s best recorded vocal performances, ranging from belting out choruses to head voices on the bridge where she whispers: “sometimes I feel my heart is breaking but I stay strong and I hold on cause I know I will see you again, this is not where it ends. I will carry you with me till I see you again.”
What “See You Again” does not possess, however, is a distinctive country sound and instrumentation. See You Again has the sound of 90′s pop: from the Coldplay-esque productions which is apparent the most in the set of sing-along “oh oh oh’s” in male voices that the song opens up with, to the backdrop of a piano-driven melody, to the tempo and rhythm.
See You Again will be another hit for Underwood who keeps releasing crossover-ready songs when she doesn’t want airplay that extends beyond country radio. Seeing as that’s the case, more country and possibly better offerings would have served as better follow-ups to her previous moderately-country sounding singles. Underwood may have reached a point in her career where she is courageous enough to release whatever she likes and it’s obvious she relates to this song well. However, while that is commendable, it’s a shame that the release of See You Again means better songs off Blown Away will never see the light of day.
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