Carrie Underwood: No One Could Have Predicted This
Carrie Underwood is now a pro at making music, selling records, and selling out arenas with her live shows, having been doing this for twenty years now.
And who would have thought that twenty years after she won American Idol, she would be changing the lives of new contestants on Idol as a judge, which premiered earlier this week (3/9) with her joining fellow judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie on ABC.
I’ve been fortunate to interview Carrie many times over the years. In an early interview, the at-the-time newcomer told me she could have never imagined what would happen to her after winning the TV talent competition. She told me, “Whenever I was on ‘Idol,’ I was just hoping to stay there for another week. That was as far as my calendar would go.”
She added, “I don’t think anybody could have possibly predicted any of this. I mean, just because you’re on ‘Idol’ or you win ‘Idol’ doesn’t mean you’re an instant superstar. There’s a lot that goes into it, and a lot of it has to do with luck and fans and God. There are a lot of different factors.”
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Underwood appeared on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last week (3/5) and talked about her American Idol audition.
Sitting on the couch next to Richie and Bryan, Fallon showed Carrie a photo of her at her audition, which was twenty years ago. He said, “There you are 21. Do you remember what number you were?” Underwood said without hesitation, “14887.” She then offered, “I still have that sticker somewhere. It’s on the outside of a little photo book I made.”
Fallon then asked what she remembered about that audition, and she said, “I mean, I was a baby. I was 21 years old in this photo, and a lot happened in the show. Like, it was crazy. I was a small-town girl, and I had to get on a plane by myself and fly out to LA, and it was nuts.”
After Jimmy showed a video clip of the moment she won Idol in 2005, Carrie gushed, “It was amazing.”
