Carrie Underwood
Artist ∙ Country
Carrie Underwood took a bat to a scuzzball boyfriend’s prized ride more than a decade before Beyoncé did in Lemonade. And amazingly enough, when the country star vandalized a vehicle in the video for 2005’s quintuple-platinum “Before He Cheats,” it wasn’t righteous rage she projected—it was pure poise. Underwood was relatable yet unusually composed from the start, a middle-class woman singing about being romantically wronged or living hand-to-mouth who never comes undone, even with a Louisville Slugger in hand. Maybe that’s because she took her time stepping to the plate. Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1983, Underwood dreamt of becoming a singer but decided on a more practical path—a communications degree—before auditioning for American Idol as a last-ditch effort. With powerful pipes and farmgirl charm, she handily won the show’s 2005 season, while her Some Hearts debut that same year further defined her as a forceful performer with vocal range and athletic theatricality. On 2007’s follow-up, Carnival Ride, platinum tunes like “So Small,” “Last Name,” and Randy Travis duet “I Told You So” exemplified her high-gloss approach: songs that emphasize self-confidence, hair-metal guitar sheen, dance-pop synths, and arena beats. Throughout her career, Underwood has celebrated women in country music—like favoring female opening acts—while upping her songwriting game, bringing unpretentious elegance to a Nashville industry overrun with male composers. By 2018’s Cry Pretty, her sixth album, she’d co-written nine of 13 songs, and co-produced the whole thing. She’s refined her singing too, moving from set-piece performances to R&B-influenced, loose and (seemingly) casual vocals. But even in slicker moments like Ludacris duet “The Champion,” when she wails, “I am invincible,” you know the bat-wielding dynamo of old is still getting in her licks.
Affiliate Token:
Affiliate Campaign Name:
(Optional)
Optional to segment marketing (email, social, etc). Cannot be used to track individual clicks or contain any personal identifiable information. Can contain up to 40 characters. Avoid using ?, /, or & within this field.
Optional to segment marketing (email, social, etc). Cannot be used to track individual clicks or contain any personal identifiable information. Can contain up to 40 characters. Avoid using ?, /, or & within this field.
ITSCG Token:
ITSCG parameter is a group-level token for the Apple Services Performance Partners Program. This value can never be changed and must always remain the same in your affiliate links.
ITSCG parameter is a group-level token for the Apple Services Performance Partners Program. This value can never be changed and must always remain the same in your affiliate links.
ITSCT Token:
The ITSCT parameter is a partner-level token for the Apple Services Performance Partners Program. This value is static and should not be changed unless you are a partner who has been provided your own distinct token. If so, you may override the default ITSCT value with your own assigned value.
The ITSCT parameter is a partner-level token for the Apple Services Performance Partners Program. This value is static and should not be changed unless you are a partner who has been provided your own distinct token. If so, you may override the default ITSCT value with your own assigned value.