Two of Carrie Underwood‘s three biggest CMA Awards fears are understandable, maybe even predictable. She doesn’t want to trip and fall, and she wants to avoid a wardrobe malfunction. The third involves Brad Paisley, and it’s a fear she’s forced to face head-on every November.
“Sometimes Brad goes off script,” Underwood tells Taste of Country, “but then the script has me saying something that now doesn’t make sense with what he said. So that’s a fear. I’m like, ‘Read the teleprompter!’”
Impromptu jokes and one-liners may be Paisley’s specialty, but they clearly make Underwood uncomfortable. When she’s standing next to her co-host she has no choice but to play along. The rest of the time she says she’s able to decide if she’s in or if she’s out on a joke, and she’s not always in.
“There have been a couple of things,” the “Smoke Break” singer says, “where I might not have been comfortable being a part of it. Where I was like, ‘If you guys wanna do that, put it on a different segment when I’m like changing my clothes.’”
Paisley and Underwood help write the show, but it’s a collaborative process that involves others, and she admits sometimes she’s just in the minority. Or sometimes she knows the idea is strong, but it’s not for her.
“They can’t make me say anything I don’t want to say or be a part of something I don’t want to be a part of,” Underwood declares.
Hank Williams Jr. returns to the CMA stage this year. He’ll open the show with Eric Church singing “Are You Ready for the Country?” The last time Williams took the CMA stage was four years ago, shortly after making inflammatory comments about the President. He’d just had his famous Monday Night Football theme song pulled from the air, but the controversy was cooling off (or at least people were forgetting about it) when Underwood and Paisley brought it up in their monologue. Their song parody made ToC’s Unforgettable Brad and Carrie CMA Moments list (see below). it was unforgettable for Underwood, as well.
“He’s such a great guy and obviously somebody who’s so important to country music. He’s a legend,” she says. “It was really great to be a part of him being able to squash some of that, and kind of be able to make fun of himself.”
The 2015 CMA Awards are Nov. 4 at 8PM ET on ABC. Underwood released her fifth studio album Storyteller on Oct. 23.
8 Unforgettable Brad & Carrie Moments
Next: Everything You Need to Know About the 2015 CMAs
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