While it used to be a major part of my day-to-day job when I lived in New York, celebrity interviews now are few and far between and a nice break from my traditional daily routine of sitting in front of my computer, writing and researching for magazine articles and guidebooks. So when I was asked to interview Carrie Underwood back in January for Vegas magazine’s cover story for the April/May issue, I was totally stoked. It didn’t hurt that I’ve been a fan of Carrie since her Idol days.
After she spent an entire morning and afternoon looking pretty for the camera, she changed into sweats and we sat down in a back room to chat. She was surprisingly bubbly and candid for as tired as she must have been. I’ve done, literally, hundreds of celebrity interviews—in one-on-one situations, at events, on the red carpet, on camera—and this was one of the most delightful experiences I’ve had in my seven years of dabbling in the entertainment industry. I was nervous as I usually don’t have so much one-on-one time—30 minutes is forever when you’re interviewing someone—and it was just the two of us, but the time flew by without pause. She was just so real, so down to Earth, so interesting to talk to (so pretty!).
Here’s an excerpt from our interview regarding her new single, Good Girl, and the upcoming album:
Carrie Underwood, Vegas Magazine interview 1 by CamelsAndChocolate
Some things Carrie and I have in common: We were both born in 1983 just two weeks apart. We were engaged in 2009, married in 2010. We both do our grocery shopping at the new Whole Foods in Franklin. We both went to journalism school. We both grew up in small towns out in the country. We both have a love of dogs. We both pal around with Brad Paisley in our free time and have singing voices that could stop traffic…oh wait.
For those of you who have never been on the set of a photo shoot, it’s rather fun…when you’re not in NYC, at least, which is a whole other, high-stress ball game. The eight-hour day was pretty laid back, as things in the South tend to be, and took place in a studio out in West Nashville. There was a stylist and accessories editor in from New York, a photographer from LA, two photo assistants who were locals, Carrie’s publicist and her hair/makeup girl Melissa, and me. She did six different looks, from Tory Burch to Nanette Lepore, each of which required a wardrobe change and different hairstyle.
After the shoot concluded, a couple local media teams stopped by to do spots with her. I was blown away (to borrow from the title of her new album) by how camera-perfect she was—she was a broadcast major after all and would make such an awesome news anchor—and how she could do one take and get it right.
Carrie couldn’t have been cuter either: bantering with the photog, singing to My Humps on the radio, teetering on tall, tall heels, claiming she might bite the dust. Spending a day with her, you sort of forget the global fame that surrounds her as she’s just so…normal.
Many celebrity interviews (ahem, Richard Gere, ahem) make me reconsider my fandom, but after meeting Carrie, my love for her only grew. I have all of her albums and will definitely be buying the new one when it’s released next month.
All of the above shots were snapped with my iPhone. Check out the official photos from the shoot here, as they are extraordinary (and I was jealous of every one of her dresses, not to mention her physique!).