"Tornado" 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, ...

group

Little Big Town Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbro ...

. It was released in October 2012 as the second single from their fifth studio album, ''

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

''. The song was written by

Natalie Hemby Natalie Nicole Hemby Wrucke (born March 24, 1977) is an American country music songwriter and singer. She has written songs for Lee Ann Womack, Eli Young Band, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Sunny Sweeney, Little Big Town, Jon Pardi, Kacey Musgrav ...

and Delta Maid.

Content

The song is in

E-flat minor E-flat minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature consists of six flats. Its relative key is G-flat major (or enharmonically F-sharp major) and its parallel key is E-flat major. ...

with a moderate tempo and a main chord pattern of Em-D. It features lead vocals from Karen Fairchild, and uses a tornado as a metaphor for a woman's anger at her lover being unfaithful. The main accompaniment is guitars in

E-flat tuning Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. B ...

, along with a distorted

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

and

drum loop In music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Longer sections can also be repeated: for example, a player might loop what they play on an entire verse of a song in order to ...

s. Natalie Hemby wrote the song with Delta Maid, and said that the idea came when Maid asked if the area had frequent tornadoes.

Critical reception

Billy Dukes of ''Taste of Country'' gave the song four and a half stars out of five, writing that "Karen Fairchild is the group’s go-to girl for attitude, and she slings it on this relentless foot-stomper that somehow still feels understated." Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' gave the song a favorable review, saying that "Tornado is a lyrical gem and a downright awesome song with really interesting percussion and the vocal effects the group does are simply unmatched." Kevin John Coyne of ''Country Universe'' gave the song a B− grade, writing that "the concept is interesting, but it’s forced, with predictable imagery lifted right out of '' Wizard of Oz''."

Music video

The music video was directed by

Shane Drake Shane C. Drake is an American music video director and producer originally from Redding, California. He has directed videos for many artists, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Avril Lavigne, Trivium, Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Panic! a ...

and premiered on October 31, 2012. It was filmed in

Watertown, Tennessee Watertown is a town located in Wilson County, Tennessee. The population was 1,477 at the 2010 census .The population then raised to 1,556 after the 2020 census. It is located southeast of Lebanon, and northwest of Smithville. History Prior to the ...

and co-stars

Johnathon Schaech Johnathon Schaech ( ; born September 10, 1969) is an American actor and screenwriter. He has been working as an actor since the early '90s. Early life Johnathon Schaech was born in Edgewood, Maryland, in 1969 to Joe, a Baltimore City law enfo ...

as the object of the band's wrath.

Chart performance

"Tornado" debuted at number 47 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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 ...

chart for the week of October 13, 2012. It also debuted at number 97 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart for the week of November 24, 2012, and debuted at number 88 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 ...

for the week of December 15, 2012.

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Little Big Town 2012 singles Little Big Town songs Capitol Records Nashville singles Song recordings produced by Jay Joyce Music videos directed by Shane Drake Songs written by Natalie Hemby 2012 songs