The House That Built Me

"The House That Built Me" is a country ballad in the key of F major driven primarily by acoustic guitar with steel guitar fills. The song's female narrator describes returning, as an adult, to the house that she grew up in, and asking the person who now lives in the house if she could step inside and take a look around. She refers to it as "the house that built [her]," because of all the memories that she had of growing up within its walls.

Allen Shamblin based the song on his experiences going back to the house in Huffman, Texas that he grew up in at least once a year.[2]

The song received critical acclaim. Matt Bjorke described the song favorably in his review of Revolution, referring it as "one of the absolute best songs on the record." He notes that while it could've been "a bombastic, overdone song," Lambert and her producers kept it "earthy and just downright beautiful."[3] Bjorke later reviewed the single itself, describing it as a "song that plays on the country cliché of nostalgia without ever feeling cliché" and concluded that it stands a good chance of nomination in the 2010 CMA Awards.[4] Blake Boldt of Engine 145 gave the song a thumbs up, favoring Lambert's preference in "organic storytelling instead of contrived commercial jingles." He described the song itself as "a gorgeous piece of melancholy country without getting squishy or sentimental" and called it an "early favorite for single of the year."[5] Dan Milliken of Country Universe gave the song an A rating, describing it favorably as "the best on the album" and a standout for radio, because of "its grace and intelligence, not because it happens to be more disposably catchy than the others surrounding it."[6]

"The House That Built Me" was ranked No. 1 on Engine 145's Best Country Songs of 2009.[7] The song received nominations in three categories (Single of the Year, Song of the Year, and Music Video of the Year) at the 2010 CMA Awards.

"The House That Built Me" debuted at number 51 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of March 6, 2010. It also debuted at number 98 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week of April 10, 2010, and at number 91 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart for the week of May 1, 2010; overall, it has become her most successful single on both of these charts. It is Lambert's fastest-rising single to date,[8] and for the chart week of June 12, 2010, the song became her first number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It reached its 2 million sales mark in the US by April 2014.[9] As of May 2016, the song has sold 2.267 million copies in the US.[10]

The music video, which was directed by Trey Fanjoy, premiered on CMT on April 8, 2010.[11] In the video, Lambert's tour bus pulls up to her childhood home, and she walks up to the front door to ask if she could come in. Inside the house, she wanders through the various rooms, while documentary flashbacks of her family and herself as a child in a house that looks nearly identical to the one in the video, are mixed in. Throughout the video, Lambert is shown performing with her acoustic guitar, seated on the floor in one of the bedrooms. Some of the footage used for the flashbacks consists of Lambert's own home videos. The video was filmed at a house just outside Nashville.[12]

Lambert told The Boot that the concept of the video was clear: "This was one of those videos that needed to be really obvious ... [The director] found a house that looked a lot like the house I grew up in. There's no drama in the video. It just is what it is. It represents the song in such a great way."[13]

"The House That Built Me" received three nominations at the 53rd Grammy Awards. It won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, giving Lambert her first Grammy win.[25]