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"I never thought in a million years that I would have the opportunity to attend CMAs or Grammys, or to visit the Walk of Fame, let alone participate in all this," said Carrie Underwood, who did not spend a lot of time. his education in Oklahoma even dared to dream. "Where I came from and in my life, it was impossible. My first time on a plane arrived in Los Angeles when I was 21 years old to go to the Hollywood Idol American tour. They were kind enough to take us to some tourist spots, and I could see some of the stars on Hollywood Boulevard and take pictures with them. I said to myself: "As soon as they were expelled, I was at least at L.A."
And when her tour band "Idol" arrived at the Walk of Fame, there was a particular star that she traveled. "I'm pretty sure I have a picture of myself with LeVar Burton's star. I was very excited when I ran through that. I thought, "Sweet!" I am a bit of a Trekkie. "
Selfies will probably not be taken into account during her next Hollywood Walk of Fame photo shoot. On September 20, Underwood will receive her own sidewalk star at a ceremony co-hosted by two guys with whom she shared a lot of time with television, former "Idol" Judge Simon Cowell and fellow countryman Brad Paisley. Knowing the irascible characters of these two, there will probably be ruthless teasing and fetishes, even if they will not walk all around, as do thousands of future visitors on the sidewalk on the outside. of the Capitol Records Tower. 1750 N. Vine St. will.
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Underwood will have her star in the recording category, although she might claim another day just to be a TV personality. After all, she was a television star before being a multi-platinum player, instantly becoming the winner of the "Idol" season in 2005. And for 11 of those years, she co-directed the CMA Awards annual. broadcast with Paisley – a lasting miracle of chemistry that represents the only truly regular gig in the vast world of price hosting. (She will return to this role on ABC on November 14th.)
But when her name appears on the star, this will be in recognition of her status as the most enduring female female artist in recent years – with 15 hits as a solo singer and several others as a duet partner, plus RIAA certifications for 18 million albums and 30 million singles sold. "Jesus, Take the Wheel", her debut after "Idol", seems far away in the rearview mirror, as she has experienced a series of smashings that never reached their lowest level as the No. 3 country radio. And she did that as a woman, which – if you followed the controversies about the speechless rotations of country radio – means that in the early years she was about seven times more successful.
It's a story of Okie Cinderella with a happy ending that has not disappeared yet, 13 years after the moment when most of the Idol winners began to wear their home. Daughter of a teacher and worker in Checotah, a town of less than 3,500 Oklahoma residents, Underwood had quieted the professional aspirations she might have had when she went to study mass communication at a nearby university. Waitress and competing in the occasional college beauty contest. Tell us about hiding your light under a bushel: An audition of an audition in 2004 for "Idol" in St. Louis, about as long as Oswood's at 21, proved that It was soon to become Oklahoma's largest cultural export. Garth Brooks, if it is Mickey Mantle. The most successful in the history of the television singing competition immediately prompted the adoption of its genre, the country. A mountain of chutzpah building statistics later, she still looks discouraged when she recounts this first trip to the Hollywood series "Idol" as if she were even more exciting than the seven Grammys, six CMAs, 14 ACM, 12 American Music. Awards and 18 CMT Awards.
Most of the other people in his position would have made a hundred trips to date, but Underwood was, if at all, on the draw for the power games. But with his new album "Cry Pretty", there is a slight change in the scale of sovereignty. She took the bold decision to change the label groups, from Universal to Sony, after a collaboration with the first. failures to date. While she was there, she set up producers, going with David Garcia, who mainly worked outside of country music (apart from a small candidate at the Record of the Year by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line). On top of that, she jumped into the chair of a co-producer for the first time and co-wrote nine of the 13 new songs, more than any other album before. For a person prone to humility in public and in private, even as it becomes more and more discreet, it represents a real moment of "Carrie, take the wheel".
According to Underwood, some of these changes are unrelated, but I think they all led to a fresh start, for sure. And to a certain freedom too. "I'm not great with rules and boxes," she adds. "At this point in my career, I just want to make good music."
As for this co-credit, she says it comes after years of resistance to a vanity title. "I've always had a big part in producing everything I worked on, but I thought it was time to take a little more charge for my music, which brought me to co-produce with David, "Underwood says." And every album that I write the most, and I always feel like I'm on the roll with regards to vocal things. .. let's hope so?"
So let him out of the way: the new album is very pop. It is also very peasant-twangier than many of his previous efforts, in fact. If it sounds oxymoronic, listening to the tracks of "Cry Pretty" will clear up; He is a long-time player who moves between the extremes that she probably did not have before. "Low" begins and ends with the sound of cracked pseudo-vinyl and acoustic guitar, aiming for authenticity in a screaming ballad that compares its loneliness to "a cigarette without light / Like a whippoor without the night". South side, we talk about pontoon and party. This is the first time that an Underwood song uses the word "redneck". Then there's the modern R & B / pop from "That Song We Make To Love" or "End Up With You," where it looks like she's taking a Cue from recent duo partner Keith Urban, who is not afraid to go to town.
Underwood is not ready to brag about his crossover aspirations. His new label, however, is not afraid to do it. In 2006, Underwood had already proven that it could be all America's love, not just that of Central America, when "Before He Cheats" became one of the top 10 hits of pop and KA as well as the country. Well, in fact, she proved it the year before, when 500 million fans, mostly agnostics, voted to win "Idol". But since then, there are curiously few attempts to make her work on pop radio.
This does not correspond to the model proposed a few years ago by Taylor Swift, who announced suddenly that she left her country – with a great residual affection – to motivate everyone to "choose a path".
"For me, I know where I am, but maybe I'll do a little scenic detour from time to time. And it's for fun, you know. I love having an album that makes me want to take a ride. And I do not select or write songs that sound like, "Oh, that can be our crossover pop." It's not even a bit in my head. I just want to write and sing songs that I love. I have never been a remix type girl. … [But] I really feel that it's important for artists to grow and try new things, otherwise we're just doing the same album again and again. And to be honest, it's my biggest fear.
If the reluctance of a label or anyone else does not alienate programmers from countries with the threat of crossover, this could be understandable. Underwood is the only female hitmaker in the entire format – even Miranda Lambert's card picks have faltered – and it's easy to imagine powers that do not want to upset that delicate balance and suddenly reduce the number of female superstars on radio to zero. But the affection for her in Nashville and on the outside is so strong that she seems more likely to remain the only untouchable star. That she is really in a category of someone naturally exasperates her even more than she flatters her.
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| Carwood Underwood will resume her role as co-host of the CMA Awards with Brad Paisley on November 14 – her eleventh time. Invision / AP / REX / Shutterstock |
Is it loneliness, being pretty much the only standard bearer for women on country radio? "Well, I mean, I think it's a little disappointing …" She corrects herself. "I mean, it's not a little disappointing – it's a lot disappointing. But at the end of the day, I do not consider myself a "woman in country music". I consider myself an artist who works hard and hopes to make good music.
"I'm constantly asked about women in the country, and it's a pity I do it. There are so many people who make good music and who, for some reason, are not heard. And we've been talking about it for a while! But I really think we need to put the music where we are and start giving these incredible artists who happen to be women a bigger opportunity.
"Happen to be women" is an operative phrase in Underwood's vocabulary. She comes back when you ask her about her upcoming tour, where the first parts will be Maddie & Tae (from the sardonic celebrity "Girl in a Country Song") and the newcomers Relative to Runaway June. These acts have something in common. What could it be? Surprisingly, perhaps, Underwood is not looking forward to playing this angle … for all the good egalitarian reasons. "I mean, it's a secondary statement," she says. "I just wanted to do a great show and I wanted people on stage to kick and entertain and that they're talented, smart and great to work and work hard – and it turns out that they are women. They are excellent artists first and foremost. "
Yet Underwood has a kind of unassuming feminism about her – having a woman manager, changing labels to work with a favorite female executive and booking first female games – while insisting that these people are just jobs. She is known for her adherence to veganism and Christian belief in marital equality, though she is reluctant to use her platform to push these positions onto a fan base that could still be largely related to hamburger patties and pence. In this sense, there are some songs on "Cry Pretty" that at least rub shoulders with the most popular social topics, in the simplest possible way.
One of them is a song called "Love Wins," named after a phrase associated with Tolerance. "When we wrote it," she says, "we really wanted everyone, politically or religiously, even geographically, to hear it and say," Yeah, "" It was important to write a socially conscious song. without being polarized. We wanted to get to the heart of the problem: in the end, it's about treating each other with respect and trying to understand people who are different from us. "
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| Carrie Underwood is joined by the other finalists, Constantine Maroulis, on the left, and Bo Bice, in the fourth season of "American Idol". Ray Mickshaw / WireImage.com |
Another example is "The Bullet", a song about the consequences of armed violence. It could hardly be a subject richer in polarization potential, but it begins by recognizing that it divides before exploring pure loss. "This is unfortunately a timely question – well, I mean, timeless and as timely -" says Underwood. "But it was written so that it's about the people who are affected, not the problem."
Underwood predicted a gap between the release of the album this month and the start of her tour in May, for obvious reasons: she is expecting her second child with retired hockey player Mike Fisher, whom she has married in 2010. Its 2019 The tour pushes her to hit the road for a month and a half, take a break of three months, then resume concerts for six weeks. There is an experimental aspect to this, balancing the new maternity and arenas.
"I agree, we'll do some sort of test with a baby," and then take a summer vacation right in the middle of the tour, she says. "I was lucky with the last tour; I had an 11-month-old child who had a half-routine and he was a little stronger, uh, I guess. But the situation will be different. "
More than a decade after "Idol", we have not completely erased the image of the wide-eyed ingenue. But maybe at age 35, she's older than she looks?
Underwood says, "When someone says" 13 years old "and" six albums "and starts throwing statistics, I think I did so many things? I do not feel like a jaded or an old country singer. I always feel excited about things. But I have lived a lot of life over the past 13 years, and having a family changes your perspective and makes you grow even bigger. I am really more confident in myself – as a writer, as a producer, as a human being. But I do not know – I feel young and I feel old at the same time. And I think it may be a good thing. It's an experience, but also some naive excitement. "
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