Carrie Underwood’s “Ghost Story” Lyrics Meaning  

The vocalist herself has described “Ghost Story” as being “a revenge song”, one in which she’s portraying the role of a “scorned lover”. This therefore makes the song’s addressee her ex. And it’s important to point that out, because to some degree the lyrics are vague enough to imply that Carrie’s character represents a real-life ghost, i.e. the spirit of a deceased person that is still making its presence felt here on the mortal plane.

In the first part of the song especially, the narrator is presented in the traditional ghost sense, i.e. making it her goal to spool out the addressee. But by the time the second verse and especially bridge roll around, it becomes more apparent that she is in fact still around. And the reason she’s fantasizing about haunting her ex is because he has apparently dumped her or did Carrie dirty in some other way(s) which led to the dissolution of their relationship.

“Ghost Story”

Concerning the metaphorical motif of the lyrics, it appears that presently dude may not really care one way or another. But Underwood is convinced that eventually he will come to miss her. That is why she is claiming to be his “ghost story”, as once that melancholy does strike, missing her love will prove to be an unshakeable emotion in the addressee’s soul. So the further implication is that the vocalist is completely disinterested in the prospect of hooking back up with him in the future.

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood currently (as of the onset of the 2020s) holds the distinction of being the most-successful contestant in American Idol history. That is to say that in addition to emerging as the grand champion of the fourth season of the show in 2005, since then she has done extremely well in the music industry proper. For instance, between 2005 and 2019, all but 1 of the 30+ singles Underwood dropped as lead (or co-lead) vocalist has been certified RIAA gold or better.

“Ghost Story”

“Ghost Story”, which was released on 18 March, marked her first single of 2022.

Underwood began teasing this song about a week before its release.

The vocalist had a hand in producing this song with David Garcia. And Garcia, a musician with a number of Grammys and Dove Awards under his belt, also co-wrote “Ghost Story” with Hillary Lindsey and Josh Kear.

Underwood holds no composition credits to this song since she didn’t contribute writing to it. According to her, she loved the song the instant she heard it.