Carrie Underwood Covers ‘Vegas’ Magazine-Talks Album & Idol

Carrie Underwood covers the April/May issue of Vegas magazine to coincide with last night’s ACM Awards. In the cover story she talks about her new album, her tour regime, and American Idol. Check out what she had to say after the jump!

On the ballads from her upcoming album Blown Away:
“I’ve always been known for power ballads, and there’s not really that at all in the album,” she says. “I honestly think it’s just because the album kind of makes itself. We’ll look at the end and think what could we use more of, but it is what it is. I don’t think, Oh, I need this power ballad. If you can’t find a song like that, you don’t force it. I have one song that’s so beautiful and so moving but it’s so quiet. It’s a story, and you really listen to it—I’m not trying to impress people with what I can do. I’ve done enough by now that I don’t have to sing to the moon with every single song.”

On her current single “Good Girl” and the mood of her upcoming album:
The first single from Blown Away hit airwaves in February and is decidedly the album’s most upbeat track, she says. “‘Good Girl’ is about that girl that you know or you have been—I know and I have been this girl before—and she’s got stars in her eyes and the guy isn’t good enough for her and doing Lord knows what behind her back, and she thinks the world of him. Love is blind, right? So she doesn’t see him for what he is. And I’m the one trying to talk some sense into her: ‘What is wrong with you? You’re awesome, and you’re with…that?’ It’s really rocking—it’s definitely a foot-tapper.” The rest of the album, however, will lean toward the melodramatic. “There’s a little bit of a darker side to it,” she says. “It’s just stormier.”

On her tour regimen: Underwood will launch a major tour for her new album this fall, the dates of which have yet to be announced. While she’s not one for a lot of vocal exercise before a show—“I’ll hear people warming up for an hour before they go on stage, and I’m like, ‘You’re wasting it! What are you doing?’” she says—doing a tour of such magnitude requires a lot of physical preparation in advance. For Underwood, this means countless hours in the gym, both pre-tour and on the road, with her trainer. “I do my own hair and makeup on tour, so I figure [a trainer] is my splurge,” she says. “I don’t take a giant team with me, so I feel like that’s the one thing I deserve while I’m on tour: Someone to say, ‘Hey, let’s go!’ and keep me motivated.”

On American Idol: In the midst of everything else she has going on this year—the awards show, the album, the tour, her home and married life—the one thing Underwood definitely plans to do is return to the franchise that launched her to international fame. “American Idol isn’t even just a part of my past—it’s the catalyst that led me here,” she says. “It’s always so much fun going back because so many of the people who worked on the show when I was there still work there. Plus, it’s fun to meet a new batch of contestants and see how bright and starry-eyed they all are.”

Check out the full article and more pictures from the Vegas magazine photo shoot at the Vegas magazine website (which also has an order link for the print version).

About Deb B 432 Articles
Also known as Windmills, I cover country music news and live televised country events, in addition to recapping ABC's 'Nashville.' Additionally, I occasionally do long-form chart analysis that has been cited by Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The Guardian, The New Republic, NPR, and more.