NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 17, 2013 - Country superstar Carrie Underwood might be shedding her Nashville roots for a sound much more pop-rock than anything she has ever released. With six Grammy awards and four multi-platinum albums under her belt, the Oklahoman is looking to expand her growing repertoire of collaborations, which already include jazz legend Tony Bennett ("It Had to Be You") and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler ("Can't Stop Lovin' You").
The singer reveals to Downtown Radio (Ireland) that she would love to collaborate with Pink and Beyonce in the future. "I'm really up for anything, to be honest," she says. "It can't be forced. I love strong women with big voices. I've always been a voice girl. I've always loved and respected people that can sing, you know, they sound good live, as well as on their albums, like Pink or Beyonce -- people that I respect as artists."
Underwood's impressive resume, including 17 No. 1 singles -- most recently "Two Black Cadillacs" -- boasts a wide range of musical themes, ranging from sentimental odes to boy-bashing anthems. Despite her material often pushing the boundaries between Country and pop (see: "Before He Cheats"), the 30-year-old songstress admits that she would never completely leave her down-home roots behind. "I love where I'm at. I love Country music," she says. "I feel like that's my home, so I would never want to deviate from that."
However, she says that she's been fortunate enough to have once-in-a-lifetime collaborations to explore outside of her genre. "I do feel like I get the rare opportunity that a lot of people don't get just to kind of do random things that satisfy an itch to do anything else," she explains.
Recently, Underwood took her critically acclaimed Blown Away Tour to Ireland and the UK, the latter for the first ever Country 2 Country music festival at The O2 Arena. Admittedly, she wasn't too worried about being bombarded with hardcore fans while in town before the show. "I think I'm pretty OK. There's definitely certain people that are coming to the festival on Sunday and are excited about it," she says. "We kind of had some young ladies waiting outside the hotel, and I got to stop and say hi to. That's always fun."
Take a listen to the full interview to the left.
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