Carrie Underwood On ‘Today’ Show Friday To Debut New Album

Carrie Underwood will appear on NBC’s Today show Friday morning as her new album, Storyteller, is released on October 23. Her fifth country music album, Storyteller is a collection of 13 new songs – each one a lyrical short story. Underwood describes the music as classic country narratives.

“I feel like one of the things that sets country music apart from other types of music is the storytelling aspect. I want three-and-a-half-minute movies on the radio. I love that there’s a beginning, middle, and an end, and it all makes sense. You can follow the characters, and you can see it all playing out in your head. That’s what I’m drawn to, so that’s what I write, what I pick, and what I want to sing. All the songs on the album either are very character-driven mini-movies or they’re my own personal stories. Hopefully, both are entertaining and relatable.”

The album’s lead single, “Smoke Break,” was released on August 21 and has already sold a quarter-of-a-million copies and garnered over five million views on YouTube. The song was written by Underwood, Chris DeStefano, and Hillary Lindsey.

The Storyteller CD is vintage Carrie Underwood, the country chic, Oklahoma girl who shot to instant fame after winning the American Idol competition in 2005. She released her first album that year, Some Hearts, which broke records as the fastest selling first album in the country music genre. Now 32, Carrie is sticking to her roots and promised fans in a Digital Spy interview never to do a crossover to pop, like singer Taylor Swift.

“That’s not really my goal, that’s not me at all. I grew up listening to country music. That’s my home, and that’s where I want to stay. I don’t really do remixes or things like that – I just never have. Our goal in my team and what we’ve always talked about is making country music that everybody can like, you know.”

Staying true to herself, ten years of fame and tens of millions of dollars in income have not altered the image nor the soul of this American icon. But her life has changed dramatically in more ways than one. Carrie and her husband of five years, professional hockey player Mike Fisher, welcomed the birth of their first child in February. Being a first-time mom to her son, Isaiah, has brought a new dimension to her life, but she was quick to point out in the Digital Spy interview that motherhood has not morphed her into a new person.

“I mean, I’m still me! The core of me is still there. I just have this added layer.”

The closing track on the new album, “What I Never Knew I Always Wanted,” was written while Carrie was pregnant. It describes meeting her husband Mike when she least expected to fall in love and wasn’t looking for romance. The song depicts both her marriage and her new motherhood as serendipitous events that fulfilled a heart’s desire that she didn’t realize she had.

Carrie Underwood is also known for dark stories, such as her award-winning release, “Before He Cheats.” The new album has a song with a dark tale which unfolds after a young woman from a humble status marries a wealthy man and suffers from his abuse. As the story continues, she ends up killing him. As church bells are heard on her wedding day, church bells are heard ringing at her husband’s funeral and serve as the denouement of the narrative. The track, “Church Bells,” is expected to receive some criticism, and Carrie issued advance PR for it in a Taste of Country interview.

With the launch of the new album on the Today show, Storyteller is expected to climb to the top of the charts and maintain Carrie Underwood’s position as America’s country sweetheart.

[Image via Carrie Underwood / Facebook]