Miranda Lambert, ‘Baggage Claim’ – Song Review

Miranda Lambert's new single, 'Baggage Claim,' tries to reassure fans and critics that despite a happy marriage to Blake Shelton, the country queen of mean hasn't let her sharp tongue go dull. It's clear she has polished up her butt-kicking style some, however. The 'Gunpowder and Lead' singer's new blend of revenge feels borrowed from an episode of 'Desparate Housewives.' Gone is that searing razor's edge that women loved and men feared, but still loved.

The funky guitar riff that drives this song holds onto the rootsy style Lambert was praised for on 'Revolution.' Later in the song an organ pipes up, which is the opposite of raw and rootsy, but hey, she's not trying to recreate her last album is she? This song lives and dies with its PG storyline.

Lambert begins with, "I have been draggin' around your sensitive ego / Making sure your bags arrive on time / For the dog and pony show / A leather suitcase like a brick / It kind of makes it hard to get a grip / I drop your troubles off at the conveyor built / I hand you a ticket to go get it yourself."

The luggage carousel isn't the most daunting of metaphors. Actually, they're sort of nice. You just stand there, and your bags come right to you. If things are moving slowly, maybe you go grab a coffee at Starbucks and check back in five minutes. Lambert's chorus would have you believe there's a troll living beyond those rubber curtains.

"At the baggage claim / You got a lot of luggage in your name / When you hit the ground, check the lost and found 'cause it ain't my problem now / I can't carry it on / I got a lot of troubles on my own / It's all over the yard and the trunk of the car / I'm packing' it it / So come and get it."

While songs from her last album, 'Revolution,' were refreshingly raw in their musicality and perfectly poetic in lyrical content, 'Baggage Claim' is the opposite. Honestly, it's as if Lambert accidentally picked Carrie Underwood's luggage up from the conveyor belt. It happens. Many bags look alike.

"If it ain't obvious what has set me off too late / Behind every woman's scorn is a man who made her that way / Go on and take your little business trip / With that sweet little habit that you can't kick / You better you call your mama when you get to town / Cause I ain't gonn' be hanging around."

Few remember that 'Revolution' didn't exactly start off with a bang, either. Lambert released the artistic but difficult to digest 'Dead Flowers' before changing course and going with 'White Liar,' a song that would become her first Top 5 hit. No doubt there's still plenty left to be unpacked from Lambert's suitcase before the new album 'Four the Record' hits stores this November.

Listen to Miranda Lambert, 'Baggage Claim'