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The House That Built Me

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"The House That Built Me"
Song

"The House That Built Me" is a song written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin, and recorded by American country artist Miranda Lambert. Blake Shelton was originally set to record the song when Lambert heard it, she immediately wanted to record it for herself. It was released in March 2010 as the third single from her third studio album, Revolution. It is the fastest-rising single of her career, reaching the Top 20 in its eighth week. For the chart week of June 12, 2010, the song became Lambert's first Number One hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and held its place at the top for four consecutive weeks. Additionally, it was her second single to receive a platinum certification from the RIAA on January 31, 2011.[1]

Lambert performed the song during the 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards on April 18, 2010, and received a standing ovation. At the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011, she won a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "The House That Built Me."

Content

"The House That Built Me" is a country ballad in the key of F major driven primarily by acoustic guitar with steel guitar fills. The song's female narrator describes returning, as an adult, to the house that she grew up in, and asking the person who now lives in the house if she could step inside and take a look around. She refers to it as "the house that built [her]," because of all the memories that she had of growing up within its walls. It is also Miranda's first single of her career that she did not have a hand in writing.

Allen Shamblin based the song of his experience of going back to the house in Huffman, Texas that he grew up in at least once a year.[2]

Reception

The song received critical acclaim. Matt Bjorke described the song favorably in his review of Revolution, referring it as "one of the absolute best songs on the record." He notes that while it could've been "a bombastic, overdone song," Lambert and her producers kept it "earthy and just downright beautiful."[3] Bjorke later reviewed the single itself, describing it as a "song that plays on the country cliché of nostalgia without ever feeling cliché" and concluded that it stands a good chance of nomination in the 2010 CMA Awards.[4] Blake Boldt of The 9513 gave the song a thumbs up, favoring Lambert's preference in "organic storytelling instead of contrived commercial jingles." He described the song itself as "a gorgeous piece of melancholy country without getting squishy or sentimental" and called it an "early favorite for single of the year."[5] Dan Milliken of Country Universe gave the song an A rating, describing it favorably as "the best on the album" and a standout for radio, because of "its grace and intelligence, not because it happens to be more disposably catchy than the others surrounding it."[6]

"The House That Built Me" was ranked No. 1 on The 9513's Best Country Songs of 2009[7] and won the award for Song of the Year in their second annual country music awards.[8] The song received nominations in three categories (Single of the Year, Song of the Year, and Music Video of the Year) at the 2010 CMA Awards.

Music video

The music video, which was directed by Trey Fanjoy, premiered on CMT on April 8, 2010.[9] In the video, Lambert's tour bus pulls up to her childhood home, and she walks up to the front door to ask if she could come in. Inside the house, she wanders through the various rooms, while documentary flashbacks of her family and herself as a child in a house that looks nearly identical to the one in the video, are mixed in. Throughout the video, Lambert is shown performing with her acoustic guitar, seated on the floor in one of the bedrooms. Some of the footage used for the flashbacks consists of Lambert's own home videos. The video was filmed at a house just outside of Nashville.[10]

Lambert told The Boot that the concept of the video was clear: "This was one of those videos that needed to be really obvious ... [The director] found a house that looked a lot like the house I grew up in. There's no drama in the video. It just is what it is. It represents the song in such a great way."[11]

Chart performance

"The House That Built Me" debuted at number 51 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of March 6, 2010. It also debuted at number 98 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week of April 10, 2010 and at number 91 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart for the week of May 1, 2010; overall, it has become her most successful single on both of these charts. It is Lambert's fastest-rising single to date,[12] and for the chart week of June 12, 2010, the song became her first number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It has sold 1,709,000 copies in the US as of November 2012.[13]

Preceded by Billboard Hot Country Songs
number-one single
June 12 – July 3, 2010 		Succeeded by

Awards and nominations

"The House That Built Me" received three nominations at the 53rd Grammy Awards. It won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, giving Lambert her first Grammy win.[19]

Award Category Result
44th CMA Awards Song of the Year Won
Single of the Year Nominated
Music Video of the Year Won
53rd Grammy Awards Song of the Year Nominated
Best Country Song Nominated
Best Female Country Vocal Performance Won
46th ACM Awards Song of the Year Won
Single Record of the Year Won
Video of the Year Won

References

  1. ^ "Recording Industry Association of America". RIAA. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  2. ^ "CMT Blog: Miranda Lambert's "House" Takes Me Back Home". Blog.cmt.com. March 10, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  3. ^ NAME:. "Roughstock Blog: Miranda Lambert – Revolution". Roughstock.com. Retrieved June 5, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  4. ^ NAME:. "Roughstock Blog: Miranda Lambert – "The House That Built Me"". Roughstock.com. Retrieved June 5, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  5. ^ "Miranda Lambert – "The House That Built Me"". The 9513. February 23, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  6. ^ Milliken, Dan (April 1, 2010). "Single Review/Shameless Rant: Miranda Lambert, "The House That Built Me"". Country Universe. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  7. ^ "The Best Country Songs of 2009". The 9513. December 21, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  8. ^ "Miranda Lambert Wins Artist, Song of the Year in The 9513's 2nd Annual Country Music Awards". The 9513. February 4, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  9. ^ Posted 4/8/10. "CMT Videos : Music Binge – 4.8.10 : The House That Built Me". Cmt.com. Retrieved June 5, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Miranda Lambert Blog: ACM Good Luck Charm? Meet "Cher"[dead link‍]
  11. ^ Posted Apr 21, 2010 10:30 am by Donna Hughes Comments (April 21, 2010). "Miranda Lambert Makes Obvious Choice for New Video". The Boot. Retrieved June 5, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "Miranda Lambert Debuts "The House That Built Me" Video; Jake Owen Channels Brooks & Dunn In Tribute to Scooby Doo". The 9513. April 6, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  13. ^ Paul Grein (November 7, 2011). "Week Ending Nov. 4, 2012. Songs: The Power Of "The Voice"". Chart Watch. Yahoo Music. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
  14. ^ "Miranda Lambert Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  15. ^ "Miranda Lambert Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  16. ^ "Miranda Lambert Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  17. ^ "2010 Year-End Hot 100 Songs". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
  18. ^ http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2010/hot-country-songs?begin=11&order=position
  19. ^ Tucker, Ken (February 13, 2011). "Lady Antebellum Tops Grammys". Country Weekly. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
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