Carrie Underwood continues to reflect on her time as a contestant on American Idol, and has shared the song that she was very uncomfortable singing.

But she killed it anyway.

Episode 3 of Idol To Icon dropped today, which has Carrie Underwood looking back at her Top 11 performance. The theme was ‘no. 1s,’ and so the burgeoning singer chose Heart’s “Alone.” A challenging and powerful song for sure.

“I’ve always loved this song, I’ve always loved Heart,” Underwood said, reflecting on choosing that song to sing.

In the episode that aired all those years ago, young Underwood elaborated further on why she chose to sing the Heart classic. “Throughout this entire competition, I’ve kind of been the country singer, and I wanted to take a risk and break out of my shell a little bit, so I thought I’d sing an 80s rock song.”

And step out of her comfort zone she did.

Carrie Underwood Stepped Out Of Her Zone Big Time For “Alone” Performance

There were a lot of nerves riding on this performance for a few reasons. Not only was she not singing country, which is a genre she carved out for herself, but she also didn’t think people would like her singing the song at all.

“I remember, like, writing in my journal how much they were not gonna like me singing this song,” she reflected. “They’re gonna hate it, whatever, I really wanna do it.”

And the final nail in the confidence coffin was her 80s outfit. With “mile-high hair,” Carrie Underwood adopted the stage persona of an 80s singer, an aspect of performing she wasn’t yet used to.

Underwood recalled that their “motivation” with the outfit was to “fit the vibe” of the song, but she was “kind of self-conscious” about it.

“It was not how I was used to seeing myself.”

Although now Carrie Underwood regards her outfit as “iconic,” and she “wouldn’t change a thing.”

At the time, however, she was “nervous.” She “hadn’t embraced the fact that [she] was kind of playing a character, and getting into a role.”

“Now I’ll do that at the drop of a hat.”

The singer really has come a long way since her nerve-wracking performance of “Alone” of American Idol.