During a May 2023 appearance on Sirius XM's "Howard Stern Show," Carrie Underwood explained why her Grammy award-winning hit "Before He Cheats" hit close to home.
She confessed to getting cheated on before she became famous.
"I mean, at the time I was young. I was in my 20's, I was in college," Underwood said. "And I feel like that was a very big moment where it was like, I really thought I knew this person, and it turns out I really didn't know this person at all."
Although Underwood's unfaithful ex doesn't cross her mind now, she did bask in sweet revenge when the song became a crossover hit in 2005.
"I don't think about it that much anymore, but earlier in my career [I was] thinking about, he's probably in the grocery story checkout line and I'm on a magazine," she added. "There's a little pettiness."
However, she didn't exactly live out the tale of vengeance, as penned by Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins. Which is to say that she never slashed the tires or damaged the leather seats of the guilty party's pickup truck.
"That's the fun thing about music. You do get to play a character," Underwood said. "You do get to sing about things, or write things, or make music videos or whatever, about things that you wouldn't actually do in your life. But it is fun to get into character and act like you would."
Underwood and her team weren't sure how the single's theme and tone would connect with her audience.
"This one was one I feel like everybody was a little nervous about, me, my label people, ... because it's aggressive," she revealed. "I just sang 'Jesus Take the Wheel' and now 'she's getting violent.'"
Those concerns were put to rest when the song became a critical success and a fan favorite. To this day, it's a crowd pleaser for Underwood's live shows.
"I feel like immediately when it comes in, the whole audience just starts bumping," she said. "There's this weird little like undulation thing that just starts happening and the crowd comes alive."
