Carrie Underwood

This was my last assignment of Composition in Semester 3. My lecturer told me to make a composition and present it in front of the class. So maybe i'd like to post it anyhow. It was my own writing from all i know about her. I took a peek from Wikipedia, though.

Carrie Marie Underwood is an American singer-songwriter and newly actress who rose to fame by winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Since then, she has become multi-platinum selling artist and won many prestigious awards such as American Music Award, Grammy Award, CMA Award, etc.  Her personal life and career is interesting, because who would have known that a farm-girl can be a superstar as of today? It is a proof for statement “Nothing is Impossible”.

Carrie’s personal life has been went so well. She was born on March 10, 1983 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She was raised in rural town of Checotah, Oklahoma. Her father worked in a sawmill, while her mother taught elementary school. She has two older sisters. She graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 and then she attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and graduated in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and an emphasis in journalism. She has experienced working at a pizzeria, a zoo, and a veterinary clinic. Carrie is animal lover and vegetarian, she stopped eating meat at age thirteen due to the fact that she could not stand a thought of eating one of her animals. Her interest on singing was seen when she was a kid, she used to perform on at a local church and Robbins Memorial Talent Show. In 2007, it was reported that Carrie dated Gossip Girl’s actor, Chace Crawford, but ended their relationship in 2008. A year later, she began dating a hockey player, Mike Fisher, and both engaged in the same year. In July 2010, Carrie and Mike married at Ritz Carlton Resort in Georgia, with 250 attendance including National Hockey League players, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, American Idol’s contestants, as well as Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson. In 2005 and 2007, as a vegetarian, she was voted as Sexiest Vegetarian by animal rights organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

Carrie’s American Idol moments were very amazing. She auditioned for American Idol in the summer of 2004 in Saint Louis, Missouri which she sang “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt and she went to Hollywood after three judges (Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson) said yes. And then in the Hollywood round Carrie sang “Young Hearts Run Free” by Candi Staton which she proceed to Top 75. In the Top 75, she sang “Independence Day” by her idol, Martina McBride. After being proceed to Top 24 (also called semi-final round), Carrie performed 3 songs in 3 different weeks. The first was “Could’ve Been” by Tiffany, the second was “Piece of My Heart” by Erma Franklin, and the last was “Because You Love Me” by Jo Dee Messina, which she was safe from elimination. And then she proceed to Top 12 (final round). During from the first week of Top 12 until she won, she sang at least 18 songs. Every week of final round, there was always a different theme of the songs that would be performed by the contestant, for example, the first week’s theme was “Song of the 1960s” and she sang “When Will I Be Loved” by The Everly Brothers. After that performance, Simon Cowell commented that she would be one of the favorites to win the show. And then on the second week, the theme was “Billboard Number Ones” which Carrie sang “Alone” by Heart, the performance brought Simon Cowell to predicted that she would not only win the show, but also would outsell any other American Idol’s winners. In fact, he got it right. The proof is she is American Idol’s U.S. Top Earner with 12.3 million album copies and 18.5 million digital tracks sold, along with amassing $66 million in tour revenues since winning Season 4.As a contestant, she was never been in the bottom three or two in the result show of American Idol. On May 25, 2005, Carrie was announced as the new American Idol winner, beating Bo Bice who ended up in the second place. Her winning single “Inside Your Heaven” debuted at number one on Billboard Hot 100 disturbing Mariah Carey’s single “We Belong Together” which fell down from the top (however, Mariah took back the spot next week). Her number one single made her the only country solo artist that has number one single on Billboard Hot 100 in 2000s decade. The song also won several awards such as Billboard Music Award for “Top Selling Country Single of the Year” and “Top Selling Hot 100 Song of the Year”.

Carrie’s career after American Idol is very great, she has achieved many achievements in music industry such as awards, number one singles and albums. Her debut album “Some Hearts” was released on November 15, 2005 in America. It debuted with amazing 315,000 copies sold in its first week which charted at number two on Billboard Hot 200 Albums Chart, only behind Madonna’s tenth album “Confessions on a Dance Floor”, and number one on Hot Country Album Chart. The chart progress went very well, it stayed on Billboard Hot 200 Albums and Hot Country Album Chart for 136 and 137 weeks respectively. In the end of 2006, “Some Hearts” was named as Best Selling Album of the Year. It has sold about 7,132,000 copies and certified seven times platinum in 2007. It is the best selling country album in 2000s decade. In Canada, the album debuted at number eleven and certified 3 times platinum for sales about 300,000 copies. The album had 5 successful singles, the first was “Jesus, Take the Wheel”, the second was “Don’t Forget to Remember Me”, the third was “Some Hearts” which was only airplay single, the fourth was “Before He Cheats” which her most successful single to date, and the last was “Wasted”. In her first album era, she achieved many prestigious award, the most notably award was Grammy Award in 2007 which she won Best New Artist for herself and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the song “Jesus, Take the Wheel”. In Grammy Award 2008, “Before He Cheats” won the same category. She also embarked a nationwide tour named Carrie Underwood: Live 2006 for promoting her first album. After the successful debut album, Carrie released her second album on October 23, 2007 which she named it as “Carnival Ride”. The album became her first number one album on Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart, Canadian Chart and United World Chart (as well as the second time for Hot Country Album Chart) with amazing sales stood at  527,000 copies in its first week in America. The album eventually certified three times platinum in America for sales about 3,000,000 copies. “Carnival Ride” also had 5 successful singles, the first was “So Small”, the second was “All –American Girl”, the third was “Last Name” which she won her third consecutive Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2009, the fourth was “Just a Dream”, the fifth was “I Told You So” a 1988 song which she sang with the original singer, Randy Travis. The latter won Best Country Collaboration in 2010 Grammy Awards. There was a nationwide tour for promoting this album named Carnival Ride Tour which held in 2008. In 2009, she released her third album named “Play On”. It debuted both on Billboard Hot 200 and Hot Country Album Chart at number one with amazing sales nearly 318,000 copies in its first week. It also charted in Canada, Australia, Ireland, and United Kingdom at number two, fourteen,  ninety-one, and ninety-three respectively. The album eventually certified two times platinum and platinum for sales about 2,000,000 copies and 100,000 copies in United States and Canada respectively. “Play On” had 4 successful singles, the first was “Cowboy Casanova”, the second was “Temporary Home”, the third was “Undo It”, and the last was “Mama’s Song”. She embarked her third nationwide tour named “Play On” which as of now, her most successful to date, she performed in front of one million audiences throughout the tour which started in early 2010. As a songwriter, she wrote many singles of hers such as “So Small”, “Last Name”, “Cowboy Casanova”, and many others.

In 2010, she started to act in several television series. She became a guest star for Sesame Street and How I Met Your Mother, a year later she acted on  her very first big screen film titled “Soul Surfer” as Sarah Hill. She acted with AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid and many others senior actors and actresses. Even though she has not acted very much, she involved in several movies to sing the soundtracks such as “Ever Ever After” the soundtrack for 2007 Disney’s movie titled “Enchanted” and also in 2010, she sang and wrote a soundtrack for the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”  titled “There’s a Place for Us”, the song also sang by other artists based on the region where the movie was released. As of December 2011, she is in the process of recording for her fourth album which will be released in early 2012.

In conclusion, Carrie Underwood is not only amazing as an artist, but also as a normal person. She has achieved many things in her life. She is beautiful, talented, and educated. She can be a role model for many people, and she inspired her fans as well. She may not the best artist in the world, but there is something in her that makes me (and her fans) more interested instead of many other artists.