Carrie Underwood was virtually an unknown singer until she decided to try out for a little show called American Idol. When I first saw her audition in 2004, I knew that she would go far in the music competition, maybe winning the whole thing. I was right, and she is one of the most successful contestants in the history of the show. One thing to note is that she had never been on an airplane before. Her first ride up in the air would take place when she would perform during Hollywood Week, the next audition round after the intitial one.
She walked into her audition as a shy country girl from the small one stop-light town of Checotah, Oklahoma. She sang 'I Can't Make You Love Me', which was originally sung by Bonnie Rait. After she got done singing, the judges asked her who some of her influences were musically, and she said Martina McBride. Over the course of the show, she had to sing tunes from several genres of music. Some of the songs she sang included Martina McBride's 'Independence Day' as well as 'When God Fearin' Women Get The Blues', from the Heart hit 'Alone' to Pat Benatar's 'Love Is A Battlefield'. Each week she received praise from the judges. During the finale, she got the opportunity to sing 'Bless The Broken Road' with country music superstars Rascal Flatts! This was her first brush with country music royalty, with a lot more to come in the future! The finale featured Carrie against rocker Bo Bice. They became good friends during the course of the show. Carrie could not believe it when her name was announced, and that she was the next American Idol. It was a tight race, and in the end she took the coveted title. Her coronation song was entitled 'Inside Your Heaven', and would be her first single. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 14, 2005, and could be found on her debut album Some Hearts, which was released on November 14, 2005.
Carrie would go on to make four successful country music albums, which all debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 Chart. Eleven of her singles released to the radio, plus her duet 'Remind Me' with Brad Paisley, all made it to number one on the country music charts. 'Mama's Song', 'I Told You So' (a song that was originally recorded by Randy Travis), and 'Don't Forget To Remember Me' all hit number two on the country music charts. Most artists hope to have that many number one songs at the end of their career. I believe that Carrie has achieved this because of her loyal fan base from American Idol, as well as the new fans she has gained over the past seven years. All of her songs have touched me in one way or another, and I will profile the story of each one, and will aslo tell the reason why I love them so much.
The second single released from the Some Hearts album, 'Jesus Take The Wheel', tells the story of a young mother who is on her way to Cincinnatti, Ohio on Christmas Eve with her baby girl. The woman has a lot of things on her mind while she is making her journey. The car that she is driving slides on a sheet of black ice, spins, but then stops. The mother and her baby girl are okay. For the rest of the ride, the baby is asleep in the backseat of the car, and asks Jesus to help her raise her baby girl. The beginning of the chorus says "Jesus take the wheel, take it from my hands 'cuz I can't do this on my own." She sang this song for the first time at the 2005 Country Music Association Awards, just months after she won American Idol. This is one of the songs that makes her very emotional while singing it live. It is also one of the songs that the fans will sing every word of at her concerts. This is a performance of the song at a concert in Chicago in 2009. You can hear the audience singing the words in the background. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Wrw0aOxpQ
The third single, 'Don't Forget To Remember Me', is about a mother who is experiencing her daughter leaving home for the first time. She reminds her daughter to fill her car up with gas, make sure that she keeps in contact with her family while she is away. My favorite lyric is "Make sure you tell daddy that I'm still his little girl." Carrie always cites that her family will always be very important to her.
Coming up: In the next two blog posts, I will be profiling the rest of Carrie's hits as well as other topics of interest, including her fashion over the years as well as my first time seeing her in concert! I will be attending her Blown Away concert this November, and I am beyond excited for the show!
