Carrie Underwood has, quite literally, grown up in front of the world. The Oklahoma native was just 22 years old when she was crowned the winner of Season 4 of American Idol. Since then Underwood married professional hockey player Mike Fisher, and welcomed two sons. Isaiah will turn 10 next month, and his little brother, Jacob, who just turned 6. So it only makes sense that Underwood’s music would reflect her growth. We found three songs that Underwood penned about growing up.
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1. “Mama’s Song”
“Mama’s Song” was released in 2010. From her third studio album, Play On, Underwood wrote the song with Kara DioGuardi, Marti Frederiksen and Luke Laird. When Underwood wrote “Mama’s Song,” she was happily dating Fisher, which inspired the song’s sentiment.
The song begins with, “Mama, you taught me to do the right things / So now you have to let your baby fly / You’ve given me everything that I will need / To make it through this crazy thing called life.”
“We love each other very much, and she was the person that I felt that I missed the most when I left home,” Underwood tells Country 103.7. Underwood’s mother, Carol, also appears in the video for “Mama’s Song.”
2. “Kingdom”
“Kingdom” is an album cut from Underwood’s sixth studio album, Cry Pretty, released in 2018. Written by Underwood, Chris DeStefano, and Dave Barnes, “Kingdom” illustrates Underwood’s most important role, which is being a mother to her two boys.
The song says in part, “It’s two kids flyin’ down the hall / In the morning into our bedroom / It’s a creaky board on the front porch / You swear you’re gonna fix it soon.” It reminds Underwood of not only how much she loves her sons, but how grateful she is for her own upbringing.
“I’m so glad that I grew up where I grew up with my amazing family,” Underwood says (via Songfacts). “The house that we grew up in that my parents still live at in that tiny town, with not a lot to do and not a lot of extras. That is part of me.”
3. “All-American Girl”
“All-American Girl,” out in 2007, is from Underwood’s sophomore Carnival Ride record. Underwood wrote the song with Ashley Gorley and Kelley Lovelace. It was Gorley who had the idea for “All-American Girl.” The song follows the trajectory of a daughter, from birth until she becomes a mother.
“We’ve got this one thing that could be uptempo called ‘All-American Girl,'” Lovelace recalls to The Boot. “She laughed and said, ‘It’s not about me, is it?’ We said, ‘No, it’s about this husband and wife, and the husband always wanted a boy, but he ended up with a girl.’ She said, ‘Great, sounds like my dad!'”
