Dirty Laundry by Carrie Underwood

CHARACTERISTIC OF A COUNTRY SONG sung by a woman

  • Cheating

OVERVIEW

Sung by Carrie Underwood. The story of this song is that she has found or suspects that her husband is cheating on her. This song is the opposite of most female country songs, Carrie portrays more masculine traits than feminine traits. This is very common for her to sing about men and cheating, even though she is in a happy marriage herself. She sings about her true emotions when it comes to cheating and it is not okay for a man to cheat on her. Using the Sex-Role Theory you can see that she is coming off with more masculinity traits than femininity traits.

Masculinity examples throughout the song

Masculine

“All the Ajax in the world ain’t gonna clean your dirty laundry” When I hear this lyric, I am think that it shows masculine characteristics considering she just telling him how it is, which is not stereotypically for a girl to be telling a man what on her mind. Especially in a country song most of the time you expect them to sit and look pretty.

            Analytical

“You shoulda hid it in the closet; You shoulda burned it, you should lost it” Here is where she is telling him that he should have been smarter. If he thought, he could get away with cheating how could he be so dumb and leave the stain on the shirt out in the open. Why not just get rid of it?

            Defend own beliefs & Willing to take a stand

“If the neighbors get to asking, I won’t cover nothin’ up” She won’t be the woman that covers up how her husband was cheating on her. She will be the one to tell everyone the truth about what happened. It wasn’t her fault, and it was wrong and unfaithful why should she have to hide it.

Femininity example throughout the song

Doesn’t use harsh language

“I’m gonna string up your old button-down and slide it on the porch; Just in case you get the nerve to come knockin’ on my door” What she is doing right here is that she wants to acknowledge the cheating without having to scream at him out. She is being cautious to not be dramatic, well at the same time being like don’t think it okay, and he shouldn’t come back. Also, changing it so that it is “her” door not “their/our” door, by doing this it is referring that it’s not his house anymore.

Lyrics: https://genius.com/Carrie-underwood-dirty-laundry-lyrics

Shared by: Hailey Westrum
Image Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Laundry_(Carrie_Underwood_song)#/media/File:Carrie_Underwood_-_Dirty_Laundry_(Official_Single_Cover).png