Grammys flashback: Carrie Underwood was undeniable for Best New Artist in 2007, even though country rarely wins

The 2007 Grammys were good for country music. The biggest story of the night was the impressive sweep by The Chicks, who won Album, Record and Song of the Year after being blacklisted by country radio for their criticism of President George W. Bush — rather tame comments by today’s standards. However, country music’s success extended to all general field categories, as Carrie Underwood won Best New Artist. She might’ve been a star from the get-go, but her Grammy win solidified her as a budding country icon. Still, as successful as Underwood was, a few factors could’ve tripped her up on her way to Grammy glory.

But first, context. Underwood debuted to the public on “American Idol,” going on to win the fourth season of the singing competition. While the show might not be quite that reliable lately, it was a massive star-making vehicle in its first few seasons. After Underwood won, her debut song “Inside Your Heaven” started at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the few country songs to achieve that. Underwood followed that with “Jesus Take the Wheel,” one of her signature hits and one of her most acclaimed songs. That song peaked inside the top 20 on the Hot 100 and topped the country charts.

And of course, that was followed by what may be Underwood’s biggest hit ever: “Before He Cheats.” The number-eight hit became the best selling country song ever digitally, and really showed that Underwood was here to stay. All of that coincided with the release of “Some Hearts,” her debut album, which became the bestselling album of 2006 across all genres. With that level of success came Grammy buzz.

At the 2007 Grammys, Underwood submitted “Jesus Take The Wheel” for consideration; “Before He Cheats” would compete the following year. Underwood was also, obviously, entered for Best New Artist. Her fellow nominees in that category were all big stars as well. Perhaps the biggest these days is R&B superstar Chris Brown. At the time Brown had four top-20 singles, making him the nominee with the most hits, including the chart-topping “Run It!,” his debut track. Underwood and Brown actually shared a lot of similarities: a number-one debut single, followed by top-20 hits that managed to cross over from their respective genres onto the pop charts. While Brown lacked the album success Underwood had, he was still formidable competition.

Also nominated was English singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae, who was the industry’s obsession at the time. Rae wasn’t necessarily a huge star in the US, but she was quite an album seller and was a very big deal in the UK. And with her soulful indie singer-songwriter aesthetic, she was someone the Grammys would obviously dig. Then there was James Blunt, who had success that year with the single “You’re Beautiful,” which topped the Hot 100. And finally, there was Imogen Heap, the electronic-alternative genius who made waves in the industry with her creative styles and compositions.

While Underwood was the frontrunner, only one country artist had ever won prior to her (LeAnn Rimes), making her path to winning less certain than one might think. Heap was the least likely to win the award, just based on the fact that she had no crossover hits. Any of the other four, though, would’ve made sense as winners. Brown was a big star, but his style of urban-leaning R&B is typically not embraced as warmly by the Grammys in the top categories; he wasn’t a John Legend-type. Rae ultimately might’ve lacked the commercial success to win, and was probably an addition to the category by the nomination review committee.

Then there’s Blunt. Being a one-hit wonder definitely hurt him, but that one hit was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and his album got into Best Pop Vocal Album. So he was likely the runner-up for the award, especially as the only artist with support in pop categories. Getting the pop vote is often important to win: consider later winners in the category like Meghan Trainor and Alessia Cara.

Ultimately, though, Underwood likely got pop voters on her side too. Her hits crossed over to pop radio, and she came from a nationally-recognizable TV sensation, so she didn’t lack visibility to a widespread audience like some country Best New Artist nominees do. She was the perfect package of singles success, album sales, good critical reception, immense visibility and pop support.

It’s hard to question Underwood’s win. While three of her co-nominees managed to win Grammys afterwards (c’mon voters, give James Blunt something so the whole lineup can be winners!), none of them has matched Underwood in terms of awards success. In all, Underwood has won more Grammys (eight) than all of her co-nominees combined. And with so many hits under her belt almost 20 years later, it was probably one of the Grammys’ best decisions to honor one of country’s greatest, even if the genre’s not usually their forte.

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