Miranda Lambert sure has evolved over the past four years. She’s written songs about starting fires, stalking ex-boyfriends and “Gunpowder & Lead.” Her latest release maintains that same edge she’s become so well-known for, but she’s tested the lyrical waters, come full circle and really found herself.
Lambert is no stranger to the musical charts, either. Her third studio album fails to fall into the shadows of her last two releases — “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Kerosene,” which both hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart — the Oct. 17 release of “Revolution” peaked at No. 1 its first week out.
Packed with love songs and rock ‘n’ roll tempos, “Revolution” reveals the most true and honest assessment of the songwriter — while she’s found happiness with boyfriend and fellow country recording artist Blake Shelton, she’s still that tough blond girl from Lindale, Texas. Lambert mixes numbers like “Dead Flowers,” the album’s first single — a soft, real song about time moving on as love withers away — with “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go,” which is about sleeping in the devil’s bed. She fills the rest of the album with “Making Plans” and “Love Song,” which are love ballads co-written by Shelton, along with Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum.
For those still looking for a taste of Lambert’s firecracker attitude, “Maintain the Pain” is a rocker’s paradise, and songs “Only Prettier,” “Me & Your Cigarettes” and “Heart Like Mine” stay true to her wild roots. After all, she’s still country’s bad girl, and she has nothing to hide.
