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Singer Carrie Underwood tries to be modest about her success since winning American Idol in 2005, but there is no denying that she has the total package of talent, looks, attitude and songs needed to become a crossover superstar like Shania Twain.

Despite selling nearly 11 million albums in her short post-Idol career, Underwood makes a believable case that she is not obsessed with entering the orbit of Twain, who used sexy looks, sassy attitude and a slick country-pop sound to go global in the mid-'90s.

Underwood also has drawn comparisons to Faith Hill, Martina McBride and Reba McEntire, who, too, have used big talent and savvy marketing to cross over to pop and adult-contemporary radio and become household names far beyond Nashville's orbit.

"No, I don't have goals like that," Underwood says. "I just do what I do, and hope that I can keep doing it. If stuff like that happens, then it's awesome. But if not, then that's fine, too."

Anyone who has heard Underwood belt out her in-your-face crossover hit Before He Cheats or turn bittersweet and vulnerable on the ballad Jesus Take the Wheel, also played on both pop and country radio, would probably bet on the "awesome" stuff happening.

Music-industry insiders say she's playing all her cards right as she embarks on her first concert tour as a headliner. She performs in Glendale on Friday.

Fast success

"I think she's absolutely unstoppable," says Beville Darden, editor of AOL Music's country site, TheBoot.com.

"I see her surpassing Shania's popularity eventually. She's already sold 11 million albums (in three years). That's a feat that not many people can boast in any genre. And Carrie's only 25 years old and on her second album."

Darden came away from a 2007 Underwood concert a believer.

"Her vocals are absolutely amazing, she's very energetic onstage for such an admittedly shy person, she's very charismatic," he says.

Also impressed is Don Tanner, a Detroit-based radio veteran and author of No Static At All: A Behind-the-Scenes Journey Through Radio and Pop Music.

"Carrie Underwood has it all - beautiful looks, great voice and talent, squeaky-clean reputation . . . . The sky is the limit for her."

Surpassing Twain is a tall order. The Canadian-born star recorded the largest-selling album ever by a female singer (1997's Come On Over), and she is the only female musician in any genre to have three albums top 10 million in sales.

Add to that challenge the simple fact that the music business has seen scores of artists who had talent, good looks and strong songs but failed to find that magic chemistry that turns on both country and pop listeners. Such artists as Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, Deana Carter and Alison Krauss all have released material that has flirted with pop, but they haven't tasted the crossover success that Underwood has so soon.

'Idol' advantage

Winning American Idol gave Underwood's career a huge initial boost. It also gave her exposure to both the pop and country crowds before her debut album, 2005's Some Hearts,even hit store shelves.

"I was lucky, because I got to reach a lot of different types of music listeners through American Idol and was lucky enough to get a fan base of people who didn't necessarily listen to country music at all," says Underwood, who was an Oklahoma college student when she auditioned for the show.

The opportunity to sing country and pop tunes for tens of millions of Idol viewers allowed her to dip into both styles when she started recording albums, says David Reeder, vice president of GreenLight, a global consulting firm that links corporations and ad agencies with celebrities and music and film content.

"The American consumer has seen her perform successfully in those different genres of music, so they're not going to be shocked when she comes out and does something that's a little more pop or country . . . and they're also kind of invested in her success."

Of course, several performers who did well on American Idol failed to build success on the level that Underwood has achieved. Fellow winners Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard and Jordin Sparks have struggled to translate Idol crowns into huge album sales and concert crowds.

Reeder says post-Idol success as a first step toward superstar status depends on moving out of the show's shadow in a way that seems natural to potential fans.

"You have to overcome the perception that you are a manufactured star, and that ultimately lies in the performers themselves," he says.

"Carrie and someone like (Chris) Daughtry, who has been very successful as well, you saw a genuineness and truthfulness in what they were doing. They were able to take the music that was given them in different genres (on Idol) and reinterpret it to put it more in their comfort zone."

Building success

Daughtry, an Idol finalist a year after Underwood's 2005 victory, parlayed his rock background into a self-titled band that had the largest-selling album in the nation in 2007.

After hitting No. 1 on Billboard's mainstream pop chart with her American Idol single, Inside Your Heaven, Underwood put her debut album in the hands of top Nashville songwriters who were attuned to modern country, which mixes liberal doses of pop and rock with traditional twang.

The Some Hearts album debuted at No. 1 on the country charts and spawned a string of singles that performed well on the pop, adult contemporary, country and contemporary Christian charts.

The CD's title track, Jesus Take the Wheel, Wasted, Don't Forget to Remember Me and the monster crossover hit Before He Cheatsleft no doubt that Underwood had the goods needed for longstanding superstar success.

Underwood beat out Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Nickelback, Shakira and Mary J. Blige to score the largest-selling album of 2006 with Some Hearts, which has sold more than 7 million.

Underwood and Daughtry were also the biggest winners at last year's American Music Awards, which are voted on by fans of all types of music across the nation.

Holding her ground

Underwood maintains that she's a country artist first and won't compromise her sound for the sake of crossing over.

"We've never really pushed anything as far as things crossing over," says the singer, who grew up on her parents' farm in Checotah, Okla.

"Before He Cheats is our biggest crossover song to date (spending more than a year on Billboard's Hot 100 chart), and we were told up front that it was too country and that we needed to change the music on it . . . so it sounded more poppy. I'm not willing to do that.

"I remember growing up and listening to these (country) songs that I loved, and they were such great songs. Then it always seemed like people - and I don't want to use this word in the wrong way - but they dumbed-down the song and put some stupid synthesizer, drums . . . (prerecorded) loops on it that I really thought cheapened the song to make it fit into another format."

That approach has inspired singer Miranda Lambert, who has scored six Top 40 country hits after being a finalist on Nashville Star, country's version of American Idol, in 2003.

"I really respect Carrie because she's an amazing vocalist, and she doesn't change her music," Lambert says.

"She puts out records, and she puts out the music she wants, and if it goes onto a pop chart or some other kind of chart, she's like, 'Great.' But she doesn't change the track . . . she just keeps it country. She's making country music look great; she's bringing in fans from all different genres."

AOL Music's Darden points out that Twain went so far as to record two versions of her 2002 album, Up!, packaging the pop and country discs together in North America. Twain even released a third version of the disc with an "international mix" overseas in a bid to extend her worldwide reach.

"Shania worked hard to get that pop appeal," Darden says. "Carrie just happens to have it coincidentally."

The next step

Darden says Underwood's onstage fashion choices as well as the contrasting cover photos for her two albums - clean-cut country girl for the first, a more modern look amid flowing drapes for 2007's Carnival Ride - reveal a performer who has the complexity to keep appealing to all kinds of listeners.

"As far as her image, she's somewhat of a chameleon . . . . I think she's trying not to put herself into a mold," Darden says.

Her latest batch of singles run the musical gamut from soaring ballad (So Small) to rowdy country-rock (Last Name) to diva-worthy country-pop (All-American Girl) to patriotic tear-jerker (Just a Dream).

Even the honors she is earning blur the boundaries: A wax figure of Underwood was just unveiled at Madame Tussauds New York, but she also was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in May. She has appeared twice on Saturday Night Live and she will co-host country music's biggest awards show, the CMAs, on Nov. 12.

Author and radio vet Tanner thinks Underwood is mixing things up just enough to evolve into an even bigger crossover star. He's impressed that she hasn't jumped at every commercial endorsement offered and has stayed out of the National Enquirer.

Tanner and Darden both use variations of "keep up the good work" as they look ahead to how Underwood might surpass Twain or Faith Hill or Reba McEntire as a wide-ranging superstar.

"It's continuing to keep putting out great music, not overexposing yourself and conducting yourself in the right way," Tanner says.

Adds Darden, "She's doing everything right."

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/music/articles/2008/10/31/20081031underwood.html