It just doesn’t get old.
Last night on Easter Sunday, American Idol aired its “Songs of Faith” special, which featured an absolutely jaw-dropping performance of “How Great Thou Art” from alum and current judge, Carrie Underwood.
She previously praised contestants Breanna Nix and Rylie O’Neill for performing a duet of Brandon Lake’s worship song “Gratitude,” fighting through her emotions to compliment and commend their rendition, in addition to pointing out that what they did was not easy in terms of expressing their faith so openly in the entertainment industry:
“Ladies, I want to tell you… I know how difficult it is to come into the entertainment industry and bring your faith with you. It is a brave thing to do, because there are a lot of outside forces that are going to tell you not to do that. I want to tell you that I’m proud of you guys.”
Carrie has always been open about her faith as well, and she put out her gospel album My Savior in 2021 which is a fantastic project that featured her rendition of the classic hymn “How Great Thou Art,” which has become a staple of hers and is truly awe-inspiring every single time. It’s an incredibly hard song to sing, and she first performed it live back on the ACM: Girls Night Out show in 2011 with Vince Gill, which is still one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen in my life. It was also included on her 2014 Greatest Hits: Decade No. 1 album.
The original hymn was written in 1885 by Swedish preacher Carl Boberg and is one if, if not the, most recognizable church hymns of all time. Not surprisingly, tons of other artists have covered the song since it was written over 135 years ago, like Elvis, Alan Jackson, and even John Mayer back in 2019.
But in my very humble, honest opinion, no one can do it justice quite like Carrie. When she hits those last lines at the end and absolutely belts it… seriously, how is she even human? The fact that she sounds exactly the same live too is unbelievable, and she absolutely wowed her fellow judges during the American Idol Easter special last night… Jelly Roll, who joined as a guest and mentor, sat on the panel with Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie as Carrie sang with a choir, and they all three stood to their feet with their hands in the air, in awe of Carrie’s pure God-given talent.
The entire audience also gave a standing ovation, but to see her fellow artists, especially a legend like Lionel Richie, be so inspired by this is really cool. I’ve always appreciated Carrie’s openness about her faith, and how she is always looking for opportunities to tell the world about it, but this… this is spectacular.
I think Carrie is already having a profound impact on the way Idol runs, because this is the first year they’ve done an Easter special and that should not go unnoticed. It’s quite out of the ordinary for a long-running Hollywood show like this to do a full-on Easter focused episode, and I think Carrie might’ve had a significant amount of influence over that and certainly made it worth their while with this:
I mean… the girl won for a reason, and fans in the comments seemed as impressed as I was to see Carrie, and the show in general, putting faith at the center of the show in a way we really have never seen before:
“Never have I seen such open worship on the main stage. It seems that American Idol is taking a stand and ALL of the judges had something to do with it. This wasn’t a show, this was a revival worship session and I’m 100% here for it.”
“It’s a beautiful thing when stuff like this is openly broadcasted to the entire world. Not often do we see this. Soooooo good.”
“No matter how many times she sings this, every time she does, I cry my eyes out. For me, it’s the most beautiful vocal in the history of music.”
“Our country needed this today…not just on Easter but in the days ahead.. thank you American idol for doing this special evening with the country… beautiful Carrie.. and Cece and rollin just beautiful.. I cried my eyes out ,our country needed this today.”
“This whole season has had so much praise and worship. God is good and always to be praised. Amen!”
“Its so refreshing to see gospel on TV again!”
“She sings it and actually means it. No one does it like her. Pure perfection. It’s one thing to sing, and it’s another thing to be able to sing and deliver a message.”
“Rarely do I see a talent like hers being used for the King of Kings.”
“There is a movement that is happening finally! Love to see Jesus and the almighty God being exalted and raised up above the mainstream!”
“I don’t even have to watch the episode to know that this is the best performance of the night. I love that ABC allowed an episode like this. Gives me hope for our country.”
“Last night was an awesome testimony to what God has done people’s lives, it was so very amazing. Thank you ‘American Idol.'”
“I’m not a religious person but this was unquestionably the most beautiful performance I’ve witnessed in my 20 years of watching this show.”
“This is much needed for the times we’ve in right now.”
“So great she is using this show to share about God with other people.”
Amen to that… and hopefully, it won’t be the last time they do it because I think it’s clear the world wants to see more.
