In 2005, Carrie Underwood won Season 4 of American Idol, kicking off a career that is still going strong today. With platinum-selling albums, numerous chart-topping singles, sold-out tours, and more, Underwood admits it is hard to come to terms with all that she has accomplished, more than 20 years later.
“It is absolutely impossible to wrap my head around,” Underwood tells People.
“I feel very blessed that I’ve had so much support over the years from just so many fans. And I feel very undeserving, but it’s still really incredible, and even just thinking about it makes me emotional.”
Underwood’s first No. 1 single, “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” was released in 2006. With two decades of music, the 42-year-old admits it’s hard to fit all of her songs into her concerts. But as she looks back on her country music career, Underwood is trying to celebrate all of her hits in her live shows, especially the early ones.
“We’ve kind of started pulling out some of those songs just to play in show form for some recent shows, and I feel like the fans are liking that,” Underwood reveals. “And I’m liking that too.”
Underwood likes celebrating the past, but she is also eager about her future in country music, hinting that her best days might still be ahead of her.
“I feel like my voice has grown, my musicality, my songwriting, my performance abilities. I just — I feel better,” boasts the singer. “I’m at that point in my life and in my career where, in all of those things, I feel like my skillset keeps growing, which is fun.”
View this post on Instagram
The Story Behind Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats”
“Jesus, Take the Wheel” might be Underwood’s first No. 1 single, but “Before He Cheats” is one of her most popular. Out in 2006, also on Some Hearts, the savage song is one of her biggest hits, and also one she almost didn’t record.
“I remember even when we were talking about recording that song, it was kind of like, ‘Oh, is this too aggressive?'” Underwood recounts.
“Because I was like a sweet farm girl on [American Idol] — and I hope that’s who I still am — but it was almost, ‘Maybe we don’t do this song.'”
Fortunately, Underwood saw how other people were reacting to “Before He Cheats,” deciding to not only record it, but release it as a single.
“But everybody loved it so much, we went for it and it … worked,” the mother of two says. “But, yeah, 20 years later, we still see people perform it, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Everybody likes it, but especially her son Jacob, who just turned seven.
“I recently was vacuuming my house, and when I turned the vacuum off [there was] a noise coming from my bedroom,” Underwood remembers. “And I was like, ‘It’s music. That’s ‘Before He Cheats.” And I walk in there, and my six-year-old is lying on my bed watching my music video. And I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ And he’s like, ‘Nothing.’ Watching him discover that … he started going down the rabbit hole of my old music videos.”
Underwood is joining Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie for the upcoming season of American Idol. The season premiere takes place on Monday, January 26, at 8:00 PM ET on ABC.
Photo Credit: Disney / Eric McCandless