In retrospect, Carrie Underwood not singing a country song for her American Idol audition may be quite surprising. But she had a very good reason for it.

Carrie Underwood has recently looked back on her audition for American Idol ahead of the first episode of the new season. It’s funny to see her on the other side of the judge’s panel now; it’s as though she’s a judge for her own audition.

While watching the clip back, Underwood goes over her journey to Ohio for her audition, and how she was feeling. Then and now, the singer reeks of country, but her decision to perform something else was a decision of reason.

I’m sure many will remember her impressive audition where she sang Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” She still killed it, but she probably would have sung a country song if she wasn’t warned against it.

“I knew going into my Idol auditions that Simon was not a fan of country music,” she reflected. And it’s true, judge Simon Cowell is famously not a fan of the genre.

“Even one of the executive producers at the time was like ‘you know Simon hates country music, right?’” She did know, and admitted that it affected her song choice.

Carrie Underwood Explains Her Song Choice

“I thought maybe if I sang ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me,’ it would, kind of, still be me, and a song I knew and loved,” she explained. It’s a wise song choice, although may not have been necessary, as Cowell paid her a huge compliment (despite cutting her off).

After Simon Cowell stopped Underwood singing, he said, “I’m surprised that we haven’t found a good country singer in this competition yet. I think you’re very good. I think you should stay good at what you’re doing.”

Reflecting on Cowell’s huge complement, Underwood said how surprised she was. “I feel like he deserves a lot of credit for that. Instead of being like ‘I don’t like country music, this isn’t what I want to listen to,’ he saw a country artist, and the value that country music has.”