Remind Me (Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood song)
"Remind Me" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Brad Paisley, performed as a duet with Carrie Underwood. It was released in May 2011 as the third single from Paisley's album This Is Country Music. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on July 26, 2011. The song was also named Taste of Country's Song of The Year for 2011. Paisley wrote this song with Kelley Lovelace and Chris DuBois.
Background
In an interview at the Billboard Country Music Summit in June 2011, Underwood described the recording of the song as "the most unorganized thing had ever been a part of" but added that it "all worked out so perfectly." She and Paisley had previously discussed recording a duet for This Is Country Music but couldn't coordinate their schedules before the album was due to be completed in December 2010. The album was pushed back and Paisley contacted Underwood in February 2011, sending her a work tape of "Remind Me" with "a lot of mumbling" and Sheryl Crow singing the female part. Underwood saw potential in the song and flew from Los Angeles to Nashville to meet with Paisley, where they recorded the song on February 11, 2011. Upon the album's release in May 2011, Paisley expressed his hope that "Remind Me" would be its third single and described the decision to ask Underwood to perform on the song with him as an easy one. In May 2013, songwriter Amy Bowen filed a $10 million lawsuit against the song's writers, claiming that they had stolen the idea from a song that she wrote in 2007.
Content
The song's topic is about a married couple in seek of rekindling the flame of their relationship they once carried. It is set at a slow tempo of 69 beats per minute in the key of F major, with a vocal range from F3 to A5 and a primary chord pattern of F-Dm-C-B.
Critical reception
The duet has been met with favorable reviews. Dan Milliken of Country Universe gave the song a B rating, saying the song is "loaded with potential" but "trying too hard to be a big event." It received a five-out-of-five star rating from Billy Dukes of Taste of Country, who says "Underwood's vocals are pristine, and Paisley does more than enough to keep up." Bobby Peacock of Roughstock gave the song a 4.5 out of 5 stars, saying that "it's hard to find a good vocal match for Carrie, but no matter how much she tries to dial herself down, her powerhouse voice still makes Brad's very limited range all the more obvious. But that's a small complaint for an otherwise-excellent song." Zimbio gave the song five stars out five, saying that "You can actually feel the longing and the pain in both Brad and Carrie’s vocals throughout the single. The lyrics are well written, and lets you actually picture the memories they are talking about" and stated the duet is a potential Number One.
The music video for Remind Me was filmed on June 27, 2011, at El Mirage Lake, California. Deaton-Flanigen directed the video. It shows Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood walking towards each other in the desert while they sing the song for each other. She is wearing a floral dress and he is wearing a shirt, jeans and a white cowboy hat. The desert represents their actual relationship like a barrel by walking towards each other is like they are trying to rekindle the relationship. In the end, they are finally face-to-face. This open end leaves up in the air if they will remind each other, just like the song.
