"Mama's Song" is a song recorded by American

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

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...

, co-written by her along with

Kara DioGuardi Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi (; born December 9, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, and singer. She writes music primarily in the pop rock genre. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; sales o ...

Marti Frederiksen Martin Harold "Marti" Frederiksen (born July 1, 1962) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. He writes and produces music primarily in rock, country, and pop. He is best known for his work with many artists and bands incl ...

, and

Luke Laird Luke Robert Laird (born May 4, 1978 in Hartstown, Pennsylvania) is an American country music songwriter and producer. He has written over 20 number one ''Billboard'' singles, including Carrie Underwood's "So Small", "Temporary Home", and "Und ...

. It was released in September 2010 as the fourth and final single from her third studio album, '' Play On''. These songwriters also wrote her previous single, "

Undo It "Undo It" is a song written by Carrie Underwood, Kara DioGuardi, Marti Frederiksen, and Luke Laird. It was made available to digital retailers on October 27, 2009, and was released as an official single on May 24, 2010. The song is the third sing ...

". Underwood performed this song on the 44th

CMA Awards The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony f ...

on November 10, 2010. The song was nominated for

Best Country Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide it is design ...

at the 54th Grammy Awards.

Content

The song is a ballad where the female narrator sings to her mother, telling her to let her go and not to worry as the daughter moves out and begins her own life as the bride of the man she loves.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the song as "sticky" and "tacky." Sean Daly of the ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

'' compared it unfavorably to "Change" on the same album, saying that both were "too precious, too preachy." ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American 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 ...

'' reviewer Jonathan Keefe described the song more favorably in his review of the album, saying that it had cliché lyrics but praising Underwood's "understated vocal" as well as the comparatively softer production. In a more positive review, Bobby Peacock of Roughstock gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that she "proves yet again that she can just sing without having to reach for the rafters on every note, and the production is agreeably mellow and acoustic."

Music video

The official music video for "Mama's Song" premiered on

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 ...

on September 24, 2010. It features both Underwood's husband Mike Fisher, and her mother Carole. It was filmed in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, and was directed by

Shaun Silva Shaun Silva is a music video director who works primarily in the country music field. He has directed a number of music videos for many country music artists, including many of Kenny Chesney's music videos. His other clients include Jason Aldean, ...

. It tells the story of a woman who meets her true love and moves away from her mom.

Chart performance

In October 2009, in advance of the album's release, "Mama's Song" charted at number 77 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 68 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

. It was the first of three promotional singles from the album. On the

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 dated for the week ending September 4, 2010, it entered at number 55. It has also re-entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 87 upon its release as an official single and has reached a new peak of 56. It is one of Underwood's singles to reach the Hot 100 that has charted outside the top 50, with " Love Wins" and "

Drinking Alone "Drinking Alone" is a song co-written and recorded by American singer Carrie Underwood, and released as the fourth single from her sixth studio album, '' Cry Pretty'' (2018). The single had an official release day of November 4, 2019. The song w ...

." On the week of January 17, 2011 it peaked at number two on Hot Country Songs and became Underwood's third single to peak at number two.

Commercial performance

As a promotional single (before the release of ''Play On''): United States: 39,000 As a confirmed single (after the release of ''Play On''): United States: 442,000 The song has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Year-end charts

Certifications

Awards and nominations

2011 Inspirational Country Music (ICM) Awards

, - , align="center", 2011 , , align="center", "Mama's Song" , , align="center", Inspirational Mainstream Song , , , - , align="center", 2011 , , align="center", "Mama's Song" , , align="center", Inspirational Music Video , ,

2011 BMI Awards

, - , align="center", 2011 , , align="center", "Mama's Song" , , align="center", Songwriter of the Year , ,

2011 American Country Awards

, - , align="center", 2011 , , align="center", "Mama's Song" , , align="center", Female Single of the Year , , , - , align="center", 2011 , , align="center", "Mama's Song" , , align="center", Female Music Video of the Year , ,

54th Grammy Awards

, - , align="center", 2011 , , align="center", "Mama's Song" , , align="center", Best Country Solo Performance , ,

Release history

References

{{authority control 2010 singles 2009 songs Country ballads 2010s ballads Carrie Underwood songs Songs about mothers Songs written by Kara DioGuardi Songs written by Carrie Underwood Arista Nashville singles Songs written by Luke Laird Music videos directed by Shaun Silva Song recordings produced by Mark Bright (record producer) Songs written by Marti Frederiksen