Grammy Flashback Interview: Carrie Underwood
With the 59th annual Grammy Awards set to air on CBS on Sunday, Feb. 12, we’re looking back at some of the nominated artists who’ve performed for Yahoo Music. Today, we look back at a chat with Carrie Underwood, who discusses how far her career has come since famously winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. The singer currently holds seven Grammys in her collection, and is hoping to score the Best Country Solo Performance award this year for her single “Church Bells.”
“So much has happened since American Idol,” noted Underwood to Yahoo Music in 2014. That’s a statement that has remained evergreen, as the singer–who reigns supreme as the top-earning Idol of all time—continues to dominate the music world with little sign of slowing down.
Underwood, who was reflecting upon the making of her first greatest-hits compilation at the time, had no problem giving credit to the show that introduced her to the nation. “I have no doubt that If I hadn’t tried out for that show, if things hadn’t gone that way, there’s no way I’d be sitting here right now,” she noted. “Able to have a greatest hits album!”
The singer was candid regarding the differences between the making of her very first album (2005’s Some Hearts) and how she currently approaches projects “Now I have a lot more confidence in my self as an artist and a songwriter,” she explained. “And now we just have a lot more time to make sure everything is perfect and just the way I want it.”
The petite country queen indeed has a reputation as a perfectionist, but also has no fear of applying that to a wide variety of projects – her work over the past few years included taking a stab at musical theater, replacing Faith Hill as the voice of Sunday Night Football, and hosting the Country Music Association Awards with fellow country jokester Brad Paisley (a gig she says, simply, is “just fun”).
She’s also, of course, taken on one of the biggest tasks of all – motherhood. At this time speaking with Yahoo Music, Underwood was expecting her first child with husband Mike Fisher — and had just found out the babe was a boy (Isaiah Michael was born in February 2015).
With all this under her belt, it’s no surprise that Underwood has been a continually powerful role model for female artists, especially in Nashville, a music scene that has faced criticism for under-appreciation of its women.
“I honestly think it’s a struggle that [women] been faced with for a long time, for decades,” Underwood said. “I constantly get asked, ‘Why do you think that is?’ I have no idea. It’s certainly not for lack of talent.”
