"Perfect Storm" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...

. It was released on September 1, 2014, by

Arista Nashville Arista Nashville was an American record label that served as a wholly owned division of Sony Music, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division. Founded in 1989, the label specialized in country music artists, including Alan Jackson, Brooks ...

as the second single from his tenth studio album, ''

Moonshine in the Trunk ''Moonshine in the Trunk'' is the eleventh studio album by American country music artist Brad Paisley. It was released on August 25, 2014, by Arista Nashville. It became Paisley's eighth album to hit No. 1 on ''Billboard''s country chart. B ...

''. He co-wrote the song with

Lee Thomas Miller Lee Thomas Miller (born in Nicholasville, Kentucky) is an American country music songwriter and occasional record producer. His credits include 7 number one country hits: " The Impossible" (Joe Nichols), "The World", "I'm Still a Guy" and "Perfect ...

and co-produced it with Luke Wooten.

Content

The song is a love ballad musically driven mainly by

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

and also featuring a prominent

steel guitar A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

and a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

. Paisley said he wanted the guitar part to sound like thunder. Lyrically, the singer describes the girl he loves as a "perfect storm."

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' said ''Perfect Storm'' is "one of those love songs that says what women want to hear and what men wish they could say" and added that "it's a tender ballad ..and it's got the word "hit" written all over it". ''

Taste Of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

'' gave the single a favorable review, stating that "Paisley’s stellar guitar skills are on full display here, creating a storm of powerful riffs all their own" and the song is just "as complex and beautiful as the girl Paisley is singing about". Giving the song four and a half stars out of five, Dan Devour of ''Music Trespass'' said "the song is about that perfect girl that you can meet and fall in love with suddenly." He also states that its lyrics "show that Brad must have been in love recently."

Music video

The music video was directed by Jim Shea and premiered in October 2014. In it, Paisley and his band play the song in the pouring rain while wind throws photos of Paisley's female fans all around them.

Chart performance

The song was first released on August 5, 2014 as a promotional single and charted at number 45 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart. After its release as an official single, the song debuted at number 52 on the

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

chart, and re-entered the Hot Country Songs chart at number 42. On the Country Airplay chart dated January 17, 2015, it became Paisley's nineteenth number one single, and his first since " Remind Me" in September 2011. It would be his last number one until seven years later, when he topped the chart again as a featured artist on

Jimmie Allen James Edward Allen (born June 18, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He was signed to Broken Bow Records imprint Stoney Creek, for which he released the two singles " Best Shot" and " Make Me Want To" and the 2018 album '' ...

's " Freedom Was a Highway" in February 2022. "Perfect Storm" peaked at number four on the Hot Country Songs chart, Paisley's highest peaking single on that chart since the methodology of ranking the songs was changed in 2012. It brought his total of Top 10 hits to 32. The song was also Paisley's first single to hit number one on Billboard's Canada Country chart. It has sold 357,000 copies in the U.S. as of February 2015. Sales figure give
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Year-end charts

References

{{Brad Paisley singles 2014 songs 2014 singles Country ballads 2010s ballads Brad Paisley songs Songs written by Brad Paisley Songs written by Lee Thomas Miller Arista Nashville singles Music videos directed by Jim Shea