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Carrie Underwood: ‘I Like Being A Little More Forceful’

Even though Carrie Underwood tops the country chart this week with a love song, “I’m Gonna Love You,” a duet with Cody Johnson, she’s been known throughout her career as…

Even though Carrie Underwood tops the country chart this week with a love song, "I'm Gonna Love You," a duet with Cody Johnson, she's been known throughout her career as the girl with a powerful voice who sings songs of revenge and, yes, even murder.

In an interview a while back, Carrie told us, "One of my first singles was 'Before He Cheats.' Yeah, that was being naughty. In the 'Blown Away' album, we killed people on it. Like in 'Two Black Cadillacs' and 'Blown Away,' people die."

So why does crime make for such compelling songs? She told us, "It's interesting. It's exciting, I guess... to sing about it, not to do it."

As a matter of fact, Underwood is the opposite of the jail bound characters in many of her songs. She offered, "I am the most law-abiding citizen and rule-follower that I know. Like, when we are standing at a crosswalk, and there are no cars coming, but the little man says, 'Don't Walk,' I do not walk. I do not walk till the little man says it's okay. I do not break rules. I like rules."

She continued, "But it's exciting to kind of… not to live out fantasies, but I guess in a little way, like being bad."

Carrie also seems to think the music fits her. She said, "I think it fits my voice, too, though, because I am loud and have the tendency to be aggressive in my voice. Sometimes, it's harder for me to sing songs that are sweet, and quiet, and tender because I am loud (laughs)."

The country superstar concluded, "I am loud, and I like being a little more forceful, so I feel like these songs fit my voice a little more."

You can catch the powerful singer advising up-and-coming singers on ABC's American Idol. She is a first-time judge on the show with Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. American Idol's Season 23 airs on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.