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AMERICA’S NEWEST IDOL: CARRIE UNDERWOOD

Just over a year ago, Carrie Underwood was one of 100,000 people auditioning for a place on the American Idol TV show. Today, she is country music’s shooting star, having set a record for most album sales by a debut artist (2.5 million and counting for her Some Hearts CD). She’s won three Billboard music awards and is a fixture on the Top 10 weekly album sales. Beneath it all still resides a humble, focused 22-year-old Oklahoma farm girl. In this first of a three-part interview, we talk about Carrie’s likely career had not American Idol intervened – broadcast journalism and writing.

WJ.COM: First of all, Carrie, how has your life changed since winning American Idol?

CARRIE: My life is completely different in every single way possible. I wasn’t really doing anything in my hometown, going to school and stuff like that. Now I’m always on the road, and I don’t see family and friends as much. It’s all about touring and promoting the album; my life has flipped upside down.

WJ.COM: Was it your dream to make it big in Nashville?

CARRIE: I’m a thinker, not a big dreamer. My thoughts were, every little kid when growing up wants to be famous, a movie star, a music star, whatever. 99% of the time, it never happens. As a little kid, I used to pick four-leaf clovers out in the pastures and my wish was always the same: “I want to be a music star.” But my thoughts were, ‘What makes me special?’ After high school, nothing had happened, so I figured it was time to grow up and get a job. It was important to go to college, learn a trade. I felt so young when I was graduating high school, so not ready for the world out there.

WJ. COM: Where do you stand with your studies at Northeastern Oklahoma State University?

CARRIE: I’m almost done with college; I have 1 semester left; actually, not even that much, about nine hours. We’re going to work something out. My major is in broadcast journalism, so certainly, I hope they count my experiences with the show as an internship! I’m totally learning how to interview other people right now by watching the way they interview me, the questions they ask. I sit there sometimes thinking, “Would I ask that question? What different kinds of questions would I ask?” What I really like – and what I would do if I was the interviewing journalist – is when people already know something about me and they really get in there, make me think a lot about the answers. What I don’t like are really boring questions.

WJ. COM: You sound very pragmatic about how you set up a broadcast journalism career, not knowing of course that your music career would take off.

CARRIE: Definitely. In college, I made sure to prepare myself in a well-rounded way. I worked with TV, I wrote for the school paper, I tried both newspaper and magazine writing. I also took advertising and PR classes; they are really valuable to me now. I like taping things, being behind camera, doing things like editing snippets and segments, stuff like that. I also like to write. But I like the TV side more, took advertising classes, PR classes.

WJ. COM: When you were on American Idol, did the producers know about your background and show you a few behind-the-scenes aspects of show production?

CARRIE: They sure did. You know those little snippets they showed about all of us before each show? I came to the point where I knew what they were looking for. Later, people said how “naturally” good I was at it, how I made things move better and I sounded better. Well, the truth is that I studied this in school, then studied how the producers of the show were doing it.
The producers were really helpful. They knew I was interested in a broadcast journalism career. I asked a lot of questions of producers – why are you doing this? Just little things. I paid attention to little things. A lot of times, I got to go back in the production room, to where parts of show were being done. They were always so good to answer my questions. I wasn’t asking about my place on the show; I was trying to get some tips from the pros on how good shows are produced, how they come together.

WJ.COM: Who are your journalistic heroes?

CARRIE: The women who paved the way – Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Lesley Stahl. These people have been there forever and have overcome a lot of obstacles on their way to the top. For a long time, no women were in there. It would’ve been impossible for me to do what I do without them.

WJ.COM: How has the pressure cooker of American Idol aided you in dealing with all of the on-camera interviews you’re doing now?

CARRIE: Thanks to my experience on American Idol, I got a lot more comfortable with the camera. Now I have to sing a lot on TV programs and stuff. I’m doing different media circuits and talk shows, and I find I’m a lot more prepared. Learning new songs on the show every week was crazy, but I figured out ways to learn them quickly.

(NEXT INSTALLMENT: CARRIE TALKS ABOUT HER ALBUM AND HER METEORIC RISE TO COUNTRY MUSIC STARDOM)

For more on Carrie Underwood:
www.aithemagazine.com
www.carrieunderwoodofficial.com