3 Country Cheating Anthems That Defined the Early 2000s for Scorned Lovers

It’s never a wise decision to cheat on a songwriter. But especially in the early 2000s, when country cheating anthems were all the rage, it isn’t something we would have recommended. Here are three of the best songs from this era, from Carrie to Taylor.

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“Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood

Even if you don’t listen to much country music, you definitely know this song. “Before He Cheats” was one of the tracks on Underwood’s debut album, Some Hearts. To this day, it’s still paving the way for girl anthems to come.

“This one was one I feel like everybody was a little nervous about,” Underwood said to Howard Stern of the song. It might be hard to believe that “Before He Cheats” was a risky release at the time. But for Underwood, who had also just put out “Jesus Take The Wheel”, this song was definitely a departure.

When asked if she’d ever been cheated on, Carrie shared that she had, in her early 20s. “I mean, at the time, I was young, and I was in my 20s, I was in college, okay, and I feel like that was a very big moment where it was like I really thought I knew this person, and it turns out like I really did not know this person,” Underwood admitted.

“Kerosene” by Miranda Lambert

Similar to “Before He Cheats”, Miranda Lambert‘s “Kerosene” sees Lambert having a pretty aggressive response to being cheated on. 

Lambert sings, “Now I don’t hate the one who left / You can’t hate someone who is dead/ He’s out there holdin’ on to someone / I’m holding up my smokin’ gun / I’ll find somewhere to lay my blame / The day she changes her last name.”

The song definitely implies that there’s some possible murder and arson going on. But honestly, we likely weren’t thinking about that when it was blasting on the radio.

“Should’ve Said No” by Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift has always had a thing or two to say about exes in her songs. But back when she was in country music, she wrote some particularly angsty ones.

In “Should’ve Said No” Swift sings, “And I should’ve been there / In the back of your mind / I shouldn’t be asking myself, “Why?” / You shouldn’t be beggin’ for forgiveness at my feet / You should’ve said, “No” / Baby, and you might still have me.”

As Songfacts shares, Swift was writing from personal experience when she wrote this one. She shared, “I wrote this song by myself, and it literally took me just 20 minutes to write before we recorded it. I was living every line in this song at the time. I wrote this song about a guy who cheated on me who shouldn’t have.”

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