Underneath

Album: Trespassing (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • Lambert described this revealing, piano-driven ballad to AOL Music as, "probably one of the more vulnerable songs on the album." He explained: "Trespassing kind of has two halves; one half is very upbeat, fun, funky with lots of attitude and swagger and fierceness, and then the other half of the album does dive into what lies under the surface. 'Underneath' is the song that is the pinnacle of that. It talks about how sometimes, even if I'm putting on a game face, or seemingly happy and confident, what's going on underneath might not be so much the same. I mean we all have demons that we battle, we all have stuff and baggage, and the song kind of addresses it directly."
  • One of the credited writers is a surprising name. Veteran songwriter Tom Shapiro has been a prominent songwriter on the Nashville scene since the 1970s, and has over 20 country chart toppers on his resume, including hits recorded by Sara Evans, Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban. Prior to hooking up with Lambert, its safe to assume the only artistes he collaborated with who wore eyeliner were female!

    The other writers on the track are also denizens of Nashville: Josh Crosby and Catt Gravitt.
  • Josh Crosby and Robert Marvin produced this track. In our interview with the song's co-writer Catt Gravitt, she explained that Lambert stopped recording during the session so he could take a call from VH1, which was doing a "behind the scenes" report on him. Lambert came back distraught because the network spent very little time discussing his music and focused the story on his being gay. "We all had this beautiful discussion about all of us, and him really sharing his vulnerabilities, and then he got back up to the microphone and sang that song," Gravitt said. "I truly think the world of that guy. He really was bearing his soul that day, and when I listen to him sing that song, it just kills me."

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