"Criminal" is a song recorded by Canadian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Lindsay Ell Lindsay Elizabeth Ell (born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian-American country pop singer, songwriter, guitarist and television personality from Calgary, Alberta. Her music incorporates elements of rock and blues. She was signed to the US record labe ...

for her third studio album, '' The Project'' (2017). Ell co-wrote the song with Fred Wilhelm and Chris Stevens, while

Kristian Bush Kristian Merrill Bush (born March 14, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyra ...

Sugarland Sugarland is an American country music duo founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The duo consists of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (vocals, guitar, mandolin). They were founded in 2002, at which point Kristen Hall (vo ...

produced the track. It was released to American country radio on December 11, 2017 through Stoney Creek Records as the album's second single. "Criminal" peaked at numbers 19 and 28 on the ''Billboard''

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

and

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts, respectively, marking Ell's first top 40 single on the former and first charting entry on the latter. In Canada, the song also peaked at number one on the

Canada Country The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart, becoming the first single by a Canadian solo female artist to do so since 2008.

Composition

"Criminal" is a guitar-driven

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

song whose production has been described as more "accessible" than Ell's previous singles. Lyrically, the song describes the "early torment" of a surprising new love and compares the stealing of her heart to literal theft. Ell elaborated to

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that she wrote the song about being grateful for the way some people, "will walk into your life, and you don't really know where they came from or how they came at the time they did," and that the criminal allegory is a "really happy" one. It was one of the first songs written for ''The Project'', and Ell told

KNIX-FM KNIX-FM (102.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Phoenix, Arizona, owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station airs a country music radio format. The studios and offices are located on East Van Buren Street in Phoenix near Sky Harbo ...

that she "knew Criminal"was going to be important to me and my career," when it was recorded in 2016.

Release and promotion

"Criminal" was announced as the follow-up to her breakthrough single, "

Waiting on You Waiting on You may refer to: * "Waiting on You" (Ultra Naté and Michelle Williams song), 2012 * "Waiting on You" (Charlie Major song), 1996 * "Waiting on You" (Lindsay Ell song), 2017 * '' ...Waiting on You'', a 1974 album by Jonathan Kelly ...

", in November 2017. It was made available to country radio in the United States through PlayMPE on November 17, 2017 and received 10 adds. The song was officially promoted to radio on December 11, 2017. For that week, the song was picked up by an additional 51 radio stations and served as the week's most-added single.

Critical reception

Billy Dukes of ''

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

'' complimented the song's "made-for-radio" production and wrote that Ell's vocals on the track were "nothing short of convincing." Kelly Brickey of ''Sounds Like Nashville'' wrote that Ell "gets away with murder in the sweetest way," on "Criminal" and praised the way she "put her heart and soul on the line." In a review of her performance of the song at 2017's "Next Women of Country" showcase, Samantha Stevens of CMT wrote that " ll'spure and sweet vocal tone and clever use of imagery and play on words are what makes her songs so catchy and lovable."

Music video

The music video was directed by

Peter Zavadil Peter Zavadil is an American music video director who works primarily in the field of country music. He has directed many music videos since the late 1990s. He has won the Country Music Association Award for Video of the Year twice from seven nomin ...

and premiered on CMT,

GAC GAC or Gac may refer to: Companies and organisations * GAC Group, a Chinese automotive company based in Guangzhou, Guangdong * GAC Ireland, an Irish bus manufacturer established with Bombardier (1980–1986) * Games Administration Committee, a ...

VEVO Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

in April 2018.

Chart performance

"Criminal" debuted at number 54 on the ''Billboard'' Country Airplay chart dated December 23, 2017 and was the week's highest-debuting single. The song became Ell's first top 40 hit the following week, when the song rose from 54 to 40. It has since reached a peak position of 19 and is Ell's highest-charting single to date. "Criminal" debuted at number 47 on the

chart dated January 27, 2018. The song is Ell's first entry on the multi-metric chart. It has since peaked at number 28. In Canada, "Criminal" reached number one on the

airplay chart. This made it Ell's first number one, as well as the first single by a solo female artist to reach the top position on that chart since

Terri Clark Terri Lynn Sauson, known professionally as Terri Clark, born August 5, 1968, is a Canadian country music singer who has had success in both Canada and the United States. Signed to Mercury Records in 1995, she released her self-titled debut that ...

's "

In My Next Life "In My Next Life" is a song co-written and recorded by Canadian country music artist Terri Clark. It was released in October 2007 as the second single from her unreleased album ''My Next Life''. The song was written by Clark, Tom Shapiro and Jim ...

" in 2008.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles Lindsay Ell songs BBR Music Group singles Songs written by Lindsay Ell Songs written by Christopher Stevens (musician)