In 2005, Carrie Underwood was the first country singer to be crowned winner of the hit show ‘American Idol.’ This season, country music made ‘Idol’ history again as the first time both winner and runner up are country singers, and Carrie couldn’t be more proud. She admits that she only auditioned for Idol in the hopes of earning enough money to continue her education, saying she hoped that “because my major was broadcast journalism, I would be able to get a job a little easier. Obviously, I was nicely surprised.”
Six years after her momentous win, she took to the Idol stage again for Season 10’s finale, this time singing her hit song “Before He Cheats” with Lauren Alaina. Both winner Scotty McCreery and runner-up Lauren Alaina have signed with Mercury Nashville for their debut albums and are plunging right into their budding careers. Both were in Nashville for CMA Fest and were presenters at the CMT Music Awards. Carrie is happy with the country turn that ‘Idol’ has taken this season, saying, “’American Idol’ is for people like me, people like Scotty and Lauren who were in small towns and didn’t know how to do it, but had a great love for music and a great talent.” She also believes the success of country singers this season points to a greater desire nationwide for new country talent. “People are telling you what they want. They don’t have to wait for radio or media to tell them what they want. They say ‘This is what we want to hear.’ I was so pleased to see two country people in the finals, because it was people saying that it’s what they want.”
Happy for Scotty and Lauren, Carrie is still busy with her own ‘Idol’-launched career, hosting her fan club party at the Grand Ole Opry and preparing to travel to Australia to promote her album ‘Play On: Deluxe Edition’ which was released in Australia and New Zealand last week.
