Carrie Underwood Once Had a Hidden Injury That Could’ve Sabotaged Her ‘American Idol’ Win
Carrie Underwood once won the hearts of many with an American Idol performance that blew away audiences. But a behind-the-scenes mishap could’ve been disastrous for Underwood’s American Idol journey.
Why Carrie Underwood once wouldn’t have tried to make it in the music industry without ‘American Idol’
American Idol has given aspiring singers an opportunity for superstardom they might not have found anywhere else. Underwood was one of the many success stories to come out of the reality TV program. Although she signed onto American Idol on a whim, becoming a singer had been a dream of Underwood’s since her childhood years.
“When I was a little girl … if you had asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would have told you I wanted to be a famous country music singer,” Underwood once told fans at a show according to The Tennessean.
But whereas some celebrities would leave their homes the first chance they got to pursue their dreams, Underwood was a more realistic dreamer.
“I am one of those people that’s kind of, like, what’s meant to be will be,” she once said in an interview with Riff. “I’m a very practical person. I wasn’t the kind of person who was going to drop anything and move to Nashville to try to ‘make it.’”
Underwood instead chose to focus on her education first.
“I took advertising classes, I took PR classes, I wrote for the school newspaper, I was on the school television show,” she explained. “I think I could have double-majored in something else because I took so many classes. I imagined myself moving to Tulsa and trying to get my foot in the door somewhere.”
But in the middle of a summer break, Underwood decided to apply for American Idol out of curiosity. It was a decision that would end up changing the singer’s life forever.
Carrie Underwood once had a hidden injury that could’ve sabotaged her ‘American Idol’ win
Once she arrived at American Idol, Underwood’s performances would consistently impress judges. At the time, the often brutally honest Simon Cowell was so enamored by Underwood’s skill that he made a bold prediction.
“You’re not just the girl to beat, you’re the person to beat. I will make a prediction: Not only will you win this show, you will sell more records than any other previous Idol winner,” Cowell once said during an American Idol performance.
But an unexpected injury once made Underwood’s Idol performance more difficult than it already was. The singer ended up partially deaf due to a behind-the-scenes accident. The injury was significant enough that Underwood briefly entertained bowing out of American Idol altogether.
“We were getting fitted for in-ear moulds, and I had an incident with the lady that was doing mine and she managed to hit my ear drum,” Underwood once said on the VH1 TV special Behind the Music (via Contact Music). “I was like in ridiculous pain, and I couldn’t hear out of one of my ears, like nothing. It was dead…So I just crossed my fingers, hoping I was singing on key.”
Underwood’s mother, Carole, had full faith in her daughter’s ability to perform despite the injury.
“Her ear was hurting her really bad, but the show must go on. And you can’t whine and complain about it,” she said.
Carrie Underwood once shared that she could never be a judge on a reality TV show
Many singers have stepped into the role of judges in reality TV shows to offer aspiring young talents their break. Megastars like Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, and others have lent their experience to American Idol in the past for example. But Underwood couldn’t imagine being a judge on any reality series. If only because she couldn’t handle the responsibility of denying others their lifelong dreams.
“Judging – that would be a really tough job to have because there would be instances where you would have to tell somebody that their dream shouldn’t be their dream and that would be really hard. I don’t think I could do that,” she once told Digital Spy.
