# Platinum (Miranda Lambert album)
**Platinum** is the fifth studio album by American country singer-songwriter [Miranda Lambert](https://www.edgepedia.org/miranda-lambert), a 16-song collection released in June 2014 on RCA Nashville.[1](https://prep.sonymusicnashville.com/miranda-lambert-ready-to-go-platinum/) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jun/12/miranda-lambert-platinum-review) The title refers at once to Lambert's platinum blonde hair, the color of her [Airstream](https://www.edgepedia.org/airstream) trailer and her diamond ring, and to the sales designation; she said she named it after one of her favorite songs on the record, "not necessarily about a number."[1](https://prep.sonymusicnashville.com/miranda-lambert-ready-to-go-platinum/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist / ordinal | Miranda Lambert's fifth studio album[1](https://prep.sonymusicnashville.com/miranda-lambert-ready-to-go-platinum/) |
| Size | 16 tracks, from "Girls" to "Another Sunday in the South"[3](https://store.mirandalambert.com/products/platinum-cd) |
| Recording | Sessions with the Four the Record production team of Frank Liddell and Chuck Ainlay began in August 2013 with seven days of recording; the album was completed in January[4](https://onstagemagazine.com/miranda-lambert-opens-the-season-in-indianapolis/) |
| Guest artists | Little Big Town, Carrie Underwood, and Vince Gill with the Time Jumpers[5](https://www.showbizjunkies.com/music/miranda-lambert-platinum-album-details/) |
| Known songs at release | The single "Automatic" and the Carrie Underwood duet "Somethin' Bad," debuted on the Billboard Music Awards[1](https://prep.sonymusicnashville.com/miranda-lambert-ready-to-go-platinum/) |
| Critical reception | Metacritic counted 10 positive and 1 mixed review out of 11, with no negative reviews[6](https://www.metacritic.com/music/platinum/miranda-lambert) |
| Retrospective standing | Ranked number 48 in Rolling Stone's list of the best albums of the 21st century[7](https://los40.com/2025/01/13/el-ranking-de-los-mejores-discos-del-siglo-xxi-segun-rolling-stone-solo-tiene-uno-espanol-y-nos-deja-varias-conclusiones/) |
## Background and recording
Lambert entered the studio in August 2013 with Frank Liddell and Chuck Ainlay, the production team from her previous album *Four the Record*, cutting for seven days before the project was finished in January.[4](https://onstagemagazine.com/miranda-lambert-opens-the-season-in-indianapolis/) She described the recording process as stressful, saying she was "pretty sure" she got her first ulcer worrying about wanting the record to matter.[1](https://prep.sonymusicnashville.com/miranda-lambert-ready-to-go-platinum/)
She framed the album as transitional: she wanted to show the maturity of an award-winning artist who had turned 30 and settled into marriage.[8](https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-06-15/music/Miranda-Lambert-shines-on-%27Platinum%27-5419171844) In a press release she said she felt vulnerable writing the album and picking songs, and that she had deliberately avoided a concrete plan in order to keep reinventing herself.[1](https://prep.sonymusicnashville.com/miranda-lambert-ready-to-go-platinum/)
The title track, a campy celebration of record sales and dye jobs, was co-written by Lambert with Nicolle Galyon and [Natalie Hemby](https://www.edgepedia.org/natalie-hemby), a close friend and frequent collaborator.[4](https://onstagemagazine.com/miranda-lambert-opens-the-season-in-indianapolis/) Its opening line, "what doesn't kill you only makes you blonder," sets up the double meaning the album returns to throughout.[9](https://www.allmusic.com/album/MW0002642643)
## Songs and guests
Lambert invited heroes and peers as guest artists. [Little Big Town](https://www.edgepedia.org/little-big-town) joined "Smokin' and Drinkin'" (written by Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird, and [Shane McAnally](https://www.edgepedia.org/shane-mcanally)) after Karen Fairchild joked that the group would take the song if Lambert did not want it; Lambert asked them to sing so the track would sound like "a bunch of people singing around a campfire."[5](https://www.showbizjunkies.com/music/miranda-lambert-platinum-album-details/) For "Somethin' Bad" (Chris DeStefano, Brett James, and Priscilla Renea) she chose [Carrie Underwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/carrie-underwood) for what she called a vocal thrash-out.[5](https://www.showbizjunkies.com/music/miranda-lambert-platinum-album-details/) The moment that most gave her "rookie nerves" was "All That's Left," a Tom T. and Dixie Hall song performed with Vince Gill and the Time Jumpers; she had heard it on a bluegrass station while driving home from a Beyoncé concert in Dallas, and had to return to the studio later to sing her part after everyone else had gone.[5](https://www.showbizjunkies.com/music/miranda-lambert-platinum-album-details/)
Other tracks address fame and self-image directly. "Priscilla," written by Galyon, Hemby, and Jimmy Robbins, has Lambert identifying with [Elvis Presley](https://www.edgepedia.org/elvis-presley)'s wife, with the refrain "It's a difficult thing being queen of the King," a reference to the tabloid attention that followed her 2011 marriage to [Blake Shelton](https://www.edgepedia.org/blake-shelton).[10](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-miranda-lambert-20140604-story.html) • [9](https://www.allmusic.com/album/MW0002642643) The Guardian's review grouped "Bathroom Sink" (a meditation on self-loathing), "Gravity Is a Bitch" (on aging), and the "Thelma & Louise fantasy" of "Somethin' Bad" as songs that fuel the title track's braggadocio, while judging the retrograde nostalgia of "Automatic" the album's one flat spot.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jun/12/miranda-lambert-platinum-review)
## Critical reception
Reviews on release were strongly favorable. Metacritic's tally showed 10 of 11 critics positive and one mixed, with none negative.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/music/platinum/miranda-lambert) Country Weekly and [Entertainment Weekly](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment-weekly) both scored it 100, AllMusic 90, and Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times 80; [The Observer](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-observer) gave 60.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/music/platinum/miranda-lambert) [The Boston Globe](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-boston-globe) noted that Lambert wrote or co-wrote half of the 16 tracks, which "bounce from humid honky tonk to glossy arena stage to rustic front porch."[6](https://www.metacritic.com/music/platinum/miranda-lambert) AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine compared its loose sequencing to a classic double album in which the misses enhance the home runs.[9](https://www.allmusic.com/album/MW0002642643) Time highlighted "Smokin' and Drinkin'" as the album's finest musical moment, praising its vocal arrangement.[11](https://time.com/2816170/miranda-lambert-platinum-album-review/)
## Legacy
Platinum became Lambert's most commercially successful record, and it marked the point where, as one retrospective put it, she became the kind of star that even non-country fans started following.[12](https://albumreviews.blog/reviews/2000s-album-reviews/miranda-lambert-album-reviews/) • [13](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/us-ranks-miranda-lamberts-10-albums-from-kerosene-to-postcards/) In Rolling Stone's 2020s ranking of the greatest albums of the 21st century it placed at number 48, one spot below [Kanye West](https://www.edgepedia.org/kanye-west)'s *The College Dropout*.[7](https://los40.com/2025/01/13/el-ranking-de-los-mejores-discos-del-siglo-xxi-segun-rolling-stone-solo-tiene-uno-espanol-y-nos-deja-varias-conclusiones/) The Guardian credited Lambert as the progenitor of "the latest brilliant wave" of female country voices that included [Kacey Musgraves](https://www.edgepedia.org/kacey-musgraves) and [Brandy Clark](https://www.edgepedia.org/brandy-clark).[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jun/12/miranda-lambert-platinum-review)
## References
1. [MIRANDA LAMBERT: Ready to Go "Platinum"! – Sony Music Nashville](https://prep.sonymusicnashville.com/miranda-lambert-ready-to-go-platinum/)
2. [Miranda Lambert: Platinum review – righteous swagger from country star, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jun/12/miranda-lambert-platinum-review)
3. [Platinum CD – The Miranda Lambert Store](https://store.mirandalambert.com/products/platinum-cd)
4. [Miranda! – Onstage Magazine](https://onstagemagazine.com/miranda-lambert-opens-the-season-in-indianapolis/)
5. [Miranda Lambert's 'Platinum' Life – ShowbizJunkies / CMA Close Up](https://www.showbizjunkies.com/music/miranda-lambert-platinum-album-details/)
6. [Platinum by Miranda Lambert Reviews and Tracks – Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/music/platinum/miranda-lambert)
7. [El ranking de los mejores discos del siglo XXI, según Rolling Stone – LOS40](https://los40.com/2025/01/13/el-ranking-de-los-mejores-discos-del-siglo-xxi-segun-rolling-stone-solo-tiene-uno-espanol-y-nos-deja-varias-conclusiones/)
8. [Miranda Lambert shines on 'Platinum' – The Malta Independent](https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-06-15/music/Miranda-Lambert-shines-on-%27Platinum%27-5419171844)
9. [Miranda Lambert: Platinum Tracks & Reviews – AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/MW0002642643)
10. [Miranda Lambert's life has gone 'Platinum,' and she's grateful – Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-miranda-lambert-20140604-story.html)
11. [REVIEW: Miranda Lambert Strikes Gold on Platinum – Time](https://time.com/2816170/miranda-lambert-platinum-album-review/)
12. [Miranda Lambert Album Reviews – Aphoristic Album Reviews](https://albumreviews.blog/reviews/2000s-album-reviews/miranda-lambert-album-reviews/)
13. [Us Ranks Miranda Lambert's 10 Albums – Us Weekly](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/us-ranks-miranda-lamberts-10-albums-from-kerosene-to-postcards/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Country and folk albums › Country albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license