Consider us saved by Carrie Underwood!
Carrie Underwood really gave it her all when it came time to use her voice for praise. The country star belted her heart out at the 56th Academy of Country Music Awards, commanding the stage for seven minutes as she sang tracks from My Savior, her gospel album.
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She was joined by gospel star CeCe Winans, and the combination of their powerful voices (and the backing of a full choir) is so uplifting.
“In my opinion, THE greatest ACM performance of ALL TIME!!” one commenter wrote on YouTube. Added another fan, “Can we talk about how well CeCe and Carrie bounced off one another? Powerhouse vocals from both. Seriously amazing.”
How Carrie Underwood chose the hymns for My Savior
Underwood’s eighth studio album overall, My Savior (released in 2021), was her first foray into Gospel music.
“These were just songs I grew up singing. I went to a very small Baptist church in my hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma. We would file in and sit in the pews and they’d say, ‘Open your hymnals to page…’ or whatever. And off we went,” she told NPR.
She continued, “When we started out making our list [for the album], it was a very long list of songs to sing. And I knew I had my pillars: I wanted to record ‘How Great Thou Art’ and ‘Softly and Tenderly,’ because those are ones I’ve been singing over the years in live situations. And ‘Just As I Am’ was another one, because that was our altar call song”
How Underwood’s audience changes in the studio versus on stage
“When I’m on stage, I’m singing to the fans. And I’m also singing for myself, you know, because it’s it just feels good to sing. I’m a bird, that’s how God made me. But I’m singing for them,” she said in the same interview.
When it comes to the recording booth, however, it’s a different story: “When I made this album, I’m performing for an audience of one. I’m gonna cry talking about it, but… The whole time I was in the studio, any time I get to sing these songs, I close my eyes and I’m the only person in the room. It’s my heart for God.”
