"Stealing Cinderella" is a debut song recorded by American country music artist Chuck Wicks. It was released in September 2007 as the first single from the album Starting Now. The song was co-written by Wicks along with songwriters George Teren and Rivers Rutherford. The single produced the biggest debut for any new country artist in all of 2007, with fifty-two Billboard-monitored stations in the United States adding the song in its first official week of airplay.[1][2] Overall, the song peaked at #5 on the U.S. BillboardHot Country Songs charts.
On August 25, 2007, Wicks performed the song at his Grand Ole Opry debut.[3] In October 2007, Wicks was invited by University of Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer to perform "Stealing Cinderella" at the wedding of Fulmer's daughter Courtney.[1]
Content
"Stealing Cinderella" is a ballad which, through allusions to the fairy tale of Cinderella, the narrator tells of a conversation with his girlfriend's father, asking for the father's permission to marry his daughter.[1][4]
Critical reception
Engine 145 reviewer Brady Vercher gave the song a "thumbs up" review. Although he thought that it was unusual to use Cinderella for a comparison (as Cinderella's father died in the fairy tale), and that the song's verses "gloss[ed] over" the allusions to the fairy tale, he nonetheless said that he could identify with the sentiment of the song's central character.[4]
Chart performance
"Stealing Cinderella" debuted at number 53 on the U.S. BillboardHot Country Songs chart for the week of September 8, 2007.[5] Fifty-two of the country music stations on Billboard's panel added the song in its first official week of airplay, boosting it to number 42 that week.[2]
