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Writing and composition

After Underwood's Play On Tour wrapped in December 2010, she started to work on her fourth studio album, then untitled. Sony Music Nashville chairman/CEO Gary Overton said that the singer "took nearly a year to compile and record the songs." Songwriters Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear, who previously wrote "Before He Cheats" for Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts (2005), worked on a track titled "Blown Away" and sent it to the singer. Underwood loved the song and recorded it, also naming her album Blown Away as it was the song that defined the album's darker direction. She then started writing material with several songwriters, including Hillary Lindsey and Kear. Together, the trio wrote "Two Black Cadillacs", which tells the story of two women who, when they realize they are both dating the same guy, set aside their differences and decide to kill him. Underwood said that "it was so much fun to write and just be in that room" with Lindsey and Kear, as they "didn't really know what to expect or where we were headed or what we would end up with." Kear described the writing session:

"Carrie had told me in an earlier writing appointment that she was expecting this album to have darker tones than any of her earlier records. So I remember sitting at the piano while writing the song thinking that if Carrie really wanted something dark, this was what she was after. Carrie really got into the story and making sure we didn’t give away how the two women got rid of the man the song is about. This kind of song is really tricky because you need enough detail to tell the story and keep it interesting without it becoming so graphic that it’s unpleasant to listen to more than once. I think we managed to pull that off. Either way, it was certainly fun choosing which elements of the story to put in and which ones to leave out."

Melodically, "Two Black Cadillacs" is written in the key of F minor, and is set in the common time with a tempo of 120 beats per minute. Underwood's voice spans from the low note of Ab³ to the high note of C⁵. Billy Dukes of Taste of Country noted that the lyrics of the song push "the normally plucky country superstar to the edge of evil. It's as far as she can go without falling off the cliff of believability." Dukes also described the song as a "mini-movie", with "a strong chorus [that] keeps the story from wearing thin after repeated listens," in which Underwood sings: "And the preacher said he was a good man / And his brother said he was a good friend / But the women in the two black veils didn’t bother to cry / Bye, bye / Yeah they took turns laying a rose down / Threw a handful of dirt into the deep ground / He’s not the only one who had a secret to hide / Bye bye, bye bye, bye bye." The country pop instrumentation infuses piano, brooding strings and a guitar, and has been compared to "Goodbye Earl" (2000) by the Dixie Chicks and "Gunpowder and Lead" (2008) by Miranda Lambert.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Two Black Cadillacs" was directed P.R. Brown and produced by Steve Lamar for Lamar Brothers. Filmed in Nashville, Tennessee, the video draws inspiration from Stephen King's novel Christine (1983), which tells the story of vintage automobile apparently possessed by supernatural forces. The singer commented that "the story was just so juicy. It's such a visual song, you can see it all playing out in your head when you're listening." A trailer was released on November 26, 2013, showing Underwood as a widow done wrong, bringing the lyrics of the song to life. It premiered on January 23, 2013 on Entertainment Tonight and Vevo. The video shows Underwood driving her black Cadillac through the countryside, in no hurry to arrive at her destination. Elsewhere, a funeral is occurring with two widows in matching black veils and void of emotion standing by a coffin. Scenes of Carrie's car in a dark alleyway, the cheating husband in its headlights, cut in throughout the video before the car finally mows the man down – and then repairs itself.

Live performances

Underwood performed "Two Black Cadillacs" at the 40th American Music Awards on November 18, 2012. Amy Sciaretto of Taste of Country summarized the performance, writing: "Underwood performed in a lacy, frilly black dress with a full skirt and black leather fingerless gloves, which she paired with smoky black eye makeup and black hoop earrings. The singer was the centerpiece of the performance, and her look was jaw-droppingly gorgeous. [...] There were bright lights above the stage and images of two black Cadillacs on the screens behind her, but that was about the extent of her production. And the simplicity worked for her." She performed an acoustic version of the song during the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. During the performance, the singer's gown became a "screen" onto which various images were projected, ranging from roses to butterflies to fireworks. Underwood also performed "Two Black Cadillacs" at the 2013 Country Music Association Awards, in a medley with "Good Girl", "See You Again" and "Blown Away", representing the ending of the Blown Away era. "Two Black Cadillacs" was the third song in the medley, and Coti Howell of Taste of Country noted that, in that part, "lighting ripped across the screen and everything went black, except Underwood and her sparkly microphone." The song was also performed during the Blown Away Tour (2012-13).