"All-American Girl" is the second single for which Underwood shares a writing credit, the first being "So Small", which preceded it. The song is a mid-tempo country-pop song, with a soaring chorus. Underwood stated in an issue of Entertainment Weekly that the high note during the bridge in the song is the highest note she's ever hit.[2]
The song centers around a "beautiful, wonderful, perfect all-American girl." The first verse tells the story of a father hoping for a baby boy to continue his legacy, but "when the nurse came in with a little pink blanket, all those big dreams changed". The baby girl now has her father "wrapped around her finger", and his heart belongs to that "all-American girl." The second verse then shifts to 16 years later when the girl is now a teenager who falls for the "senior football star." Just like the girl's father, she becomes the center of the boy's world. The final bridge tells of when the girl and boy get married and are expecting "one of their own". When she asks the boy what he's hoping for he replies with "one just like you": an "all-American girl." Carrie said the song is in part her autobiography.[3]
The song's current digital sales in the U.S. stand at 629,000[4]. On February 23, 2008 Carrie sung Flat on the Floor and All-American Girl on NBC's Saturday Night Live.
Music video
The video, which premiered January 23, 2008, was directed by Roman White. The video features several different scenes of Carrie in different outfits behind different backgrounds, such as a swimmer, an artist, a nurse, a photographer, a cowgirl, a waitress, a ballerina, a chef, a veterinarian, a mother, a football player, a police officer, a graduate, a bride, an astronaut, a firefighter, a soldier, a surgeon, and the President of the United States. While dressed as a college student, Carrie wears a sweatshirt bearing the Greek letters for Sigma Sigma Sigma, the sorority to which she belongs in real life. The scenes also correlate with the lyrics, such as at the beginning of the song, she is in a wedding gown and the second verse she is dressed up like a cheerleader. She also pokes fun at her "Before He Cheats" video. When she is a newsperson, at the corner you can see a picture of the beatup truck and "Local Crime Spree." Also at the bottom, the newsline says "Truck vandalized in local city garage. Suspect wearing black leather jacket & sunglasses and carrying a Louisville Slugger Bat." At the end of the video she is dressed up in the exact same clothing as she was in the "Before He Cheats" video, and is standing in front of the garage with a bat. Scenes of her in an orange room wearing casual clothes are woven into the video. This also broke a record on the CMT Top 20 Countdown by being number one for 10 weeks, more than any other country music artist.
Chart performance
The following table lists the current peak positions for "All-American Girl" on the major Billboard charts. The song has so far reached #27 on the Hot 100, becoming Underwood's seventh career Hot 100 top forty single. It has also reached #1 on Hot Country Songs and spent 2 weeks at the top, making it Underwood's fourth consecutive Number One on that chart, and her fifth overall. It is her first #1 to spend less than 3 weeks at the top of the chart. It spent 5 weeks at number 1 on Canada's Country Chart proving to be a big hit there. "All American Girl" also did well in Asia market, being her 2nd #1 hit there (The first was 'Don't Forget To Remember Me', which topped MTV Asia chart for 2 weeks).