Last Name
Encyclopedia
"Last Name" is the title of a song composed by country
singer Carrie Underwood
, Hillary Lindsey
and Luke Laird
. It is the third single from Underwood's second studio album, Carnival Ride
. It was released in the United States
on April 7, 2008, by which point the song had already charted. At the 51st Grammy Awards
, the song won Underwood her third consecutive Grammy award for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance". It has sold 1,078,000 copies to date.
after having had too much to drink that night. She wakes up the next morning, "thinkin' 'bout Elvis somewhere in Vegas", to discover that she does not even know her last name (i.e., she married the man while she was intoxicated), and worries that her "mama would be so ashamed." The music video portrays the song as a prequel
to her "Before He Cheats
" song, even going so far as to hire the same actor to play the man in question.
Allmusic picked the song as a "track pick", calling the song "Miranda Lambert
filtered through Shania Twain
", and dubbed it a "one night stand anthem." Rolling Stone picked the track as their favorite, saying "the most fun is "Last Name," where she gets wasted and runs off to Vegas with a guy she doesn't know." Blender
awarded the song four out of five stars, describing the song as the "most irresponsible (and fun) moment on the new album involves one wild night, one too many shots of Cuervo and one unexpected ring." Billboard
gave a positive review of the track, praising the lyrics: "It's a cleverly penned lyric that hilariously celebrates drunken debauchery" as well as summing it up as "a performance that combines soulful vocals, edgy intensity and sassy attitude into a delicious cocktail."
However, it also received some negative reviews: The 9513 gave the song a 'thumbs down', describing the song as a "straight-laced performance" that just "places the focus on the vocal". Slant Magazine
labelled the single as a "bald-faced attempt at recreating the 'Before He Cheats
' phenomenon".
| align="center"|2009 ||align="center"| "Last Name" ||align="center"| Country Song of the Year ||
| align="center"|2009 ||align="center"| "Last Name" ||align="center"| Best Female Country Vocal Performance
||
| align="center"|2010 ||align="center"| "Last Name" ||align="center"| Triple-Play Songwriter (along with "So Small
", "All-American Girl
") ||
| align="center"|2009 ||align="center"| "Last Name" ||align="center"| Songwriter of the Year (Carrie Underwood) ||
The video starts with some segments from "Before He Cheats" and then goes into a scene three months earlier ("before he cheated", it says) with her in the club drinking with her friends. The same man from the "Before He Cheats" spots her and asks her for a dance. From this point on, while the guy is with Underwood, he is flirting
with every other woman he sees. After the dance, Underwood leaves with the guy in his car with fuzzy dice
in the rear view mirror. They make it out to Las Vegas
where they participate in a couple of gambling activities such as roulette
and a Wheel of Fortune
game where they win a new truck. Later they get married in a chapel with an Elvis impersonator
officiating. They run off in his new pickup truck (the one used in "Before He Cheats") and the video ends with a spark from the chapel sign lights.
Hot Country Songs
chart, nearly a month before the single's official release. For the week of June 21, 2008 it rose from #5 to #1, to become her fifth straight number one on the Billboard chart, her seventh straight number one country single, and her eighth number one Billboard single overall. This marked Underwood as the first solo female artist to have five consecutive #1s on the country survey in almost 20 years, since Rosanne Cash
had a string of six number one titles between 1987-89. It is the third country number one from Carnival Ride and reached the top of the chart faster than the first two singles, taking only thirteen weeks. "Last Name" has sold about 1,078,000 downloads as of August 2011.http://www.billboard.com/column/chartbeat/ask-billboard-idol-izing-carrie-underwood-1005430162.story#/column/chartbeat/ask-billboard-idol-izing-carrie-underwood-1005430162.story?page=1
On the Hot 100 the song has reached #19, making it Underwood's fifth top twenty Hot 100 hit, and the second from Carnival Ride.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
, Hillary Lindsey
Hillary Lindsey
Hillary Lindsey is a country music singer-songwriter. As a songwriter, she has written songs with or for Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift, and Tim McGraw. One of her compositions, Underwood's Number One hit "Jesus, Take the Wheel",...
and Luke Laird
Luke Laird
Luke Laird is an American country music songwriter. He is best known for co-writing singles recorded by Carrie Underwood....
. It is the third single from Underwood's second studio album, Carnival Ride
Carnival Ride
Carnival Ride is the second studio album from American country pop artist Carrie Underwood. It was released in the United States on October 23, 2007. It has been certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA. The album includes the singles "So Small", "All-American Girl", "Last Name", "Just a Dream", and "I...
. It was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on April 7, 2008, by which point the song had already charted. At the 51st Grammy Awards
51st Grammy Awards
The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 8, 2009. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the biggest winners of the night, jointly winning five awards including Album of the Year and Record of the Year...
, the song won Underwood her third consecutive Grammy award for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance". It has sold 1,078,000 copies to date.
Background
The song is one of four tracks on the album co-written by Underwood, and the third consecutive one to be released as a single from the album. It is a moderate up-tempo describing a woman meeting a man at a club and later eloping with him in Las VegasLas Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
after having had too much to drink that night. She wakes up the next morning, "thinkin' 'bout Elvis somewhere in Vegas", to discover that she does not even know her last name (i.e., she married the man while she was intoxicated), and worries that her "mama would be so ashamed." The music video portrays the song as a prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
to her "Before He Cheats
Before He Cheats
"Before He Cheats" is a song written by Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear and the third wide-release single from Carrie Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts. It was the fifth release from the album overall. It was named the 2007 Single of the Year by the Country Music Association...
" song, even going so far as to hire the same actor to play the man in question.
Critical reception
The single was generally met with positive reviews.Allmusic picked the song as a "track pick", calling the song "Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is an American country music artist who gained fame as a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place and later signed to Epic Records. Lambert made her debut with the release of "Me and Charlie Talking", the first single from her 2005 debut...
filtered through Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...
", and dubbed it a "one night stand anthem." Rolling Stone picked the track as their favorite, saying "the most fun is "Last Name," where she gets wasted and runs off to Vegas with a guy she doesn't know." Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
awarded the song four out of five stars, describing the song as the "most irresponsible (and fun) moment on the new album involves one wild night, one too many shots of Cuervo and one unexpected ring." Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
gave a positive review of the track, praising the lyrics: "It's a cleverly penned lyric that hilariously celebrates drunken debauchery" as well as summing it up as "a performance that combines soulful vocals, edgy intensity and sassy attitude into a delicious cocktail."
However, it also received some negative reviews: The 9513 gave the song a 'thumbs down', describing the song as a "straight-laced performance" that just "places the focus on the vocal". Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
labelled the single as a "bald-faced attempt at recreating the 'Before He Cheats
Before He Cheats
"Before He Cheats" is a song written by Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear and the third wide-release single from Carrie Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts. It was the fifth release from the album overall. It was named the 2007 Single of the Year by the Country Music Association...
' phenomenon".
35th People's Choice Awards
|-| align="center"|2009 ||align="center"| "Last Name" ||align="center"| Country Song of the Year ||
51st Grammy Awards
|-| align="center"|2009 ||align="center"| "Last Name" ||align="center"| Best Female Country Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance was first awarded in 1965, to Dottie West. The award has had several minor name changes:*From 1965 to 1967 the award was known as Best Country & Western Vocal Performance - Female...
||
2010 CMA Triple-Play Awards
|-| align="center"|2010 ||align="center"| "Last Name" ||align="center"| Triple-Play Songwriter (along with "So Small
So Small
"So Small" is a song composed by fourth-season American Idol winner and country pop singer Carrie Underwood, Hillary Lindsey and Luke Laird. It is the first single from Underwood's second studio album, Carnival Ride, released in Canada on August 14, 2007, and in the United States on August 28, 2007...
", "All-American Girl
All-American Girl (song)
"All-American Girl" is a song composed by country pop singer Carrie Underwood, Ashley Gorley and Kelley Lovelace. It is the second single from Underwood's second studio album, Carnival Ride, released in the United States on December 17, 2007...
") ||
2009 BMI Awards
|-| align="center"|2009 ||align="center"| "Last Name" ||align="center"| Songwriter of the Year (Carrie Underwood) ||
Promotion
- Underwood performed the song live for the first time on Television during the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on May 18, 2008.
- Underwood also performed the song live at the American IdolAmerican IdolAmerican Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
Season 7 finale on May 21, 2008 — the single reached a new digital download peak at #10 which helped the song to show at #19 on Billboard Hot 100.
Music video
The song is described in the video as what happened before the "Before He Cheats" video.The video starts with some segments from "Before He Cheats" and then goes into a scene three months earlier ("before he cheated", it says) with her in the club drinking with her friends. The same man from the "Before He Cheats" spots her and asks her for a dance. From this point on, while the guy is with Underwood, he is flirting
Flirting
Flirting is a playful, romantic, or sexual overture by one person to another subtly indicating an interest in a deeper relationship with the other person, and can involve verbal communication as well as body language...
with every other woman he sees. After the dance, Underwood leaves with the guy in his car with fuzzy dice
Fuzzy dice
Fuzzy dice, known in the British Isles as furry dice or fluffy dice, are an automotive decoration consisting of two over-sized plush dice which hang from the rear-view mirror.-Origin and history:...
in the rear view mirror. They make it out to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
where they participate in a couple of gambling activities such as roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
and a Wheel of Fortune
Big Six wheel
The Big Six wheel, also known simply as The Big Six or Wheel of Fortune, is an unequal game of chance, played using a large vertical wheel that can be spun....
game where they win a new truck. Later they get married in a chapel with an Elvis impersonator
Elvis impersonator
An Elvis impersonator is someone who impersonates or copies famed American musician Elvis Presley. Professional Elvis impersonators can work all over the world as entertainers, and such tribute acts are in great demand due to the unique iconic status of Elvis...
officiating. They run off in his new pickup truck (the one used in "Before He Cheats") and the video ends with a spark from the chapel sign lights.
Chart performance
The song debuted at #46 on the U.S. BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart, nearly a month before the single's official release. For the week of June 21, 2008 it rose from #5 to #1, to become her fifth straight number one on the Billboard chart, her seventh straight number one country single, and her eighth number one Billboard single overall. This marked Underwood as the first solo female artist to have five consecutive #1s on the country survey in almost 20 years, since Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....
had a string of six number one titles between 1987-89. It is the third country number one from Carnival Ride and reached the top of the chart faster than the first two singles, taking only thirteen weeks. "Last Name" has sold about 1,078,000 downloads as of August 2011.http://www.billboard.com/column/chartbeat/ask-billboard-idol-izing-carrie-underwood-1005430162.story#/column/chartbeat/ask-billboard-idol-izing-carrie-underwood-1005430162.story?page=1
On the Hot 100 the song has reached #19, making it Underwood's fifth top twenty Hot 100 hit, and the second from Carnival Ride.
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|
Release history
| Region | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
April 8, 2008 | Airplay | Arista Nashville |
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
Sony Music | ||
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
April 9, 2008 |
Cover versions
- Kristin ChenowethKristin ChenowethKristin Chenoweth is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown , for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical...
performed a cover of the song in the FoxFoxFox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
comedy-musical GleeGlee (TV series)Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
.