-Our next guest is a Grammy Award-winning
country music superstar.
Her latest album, "My Gift," is available now,
And her holiday special, "My Gift:
A Christmas Special from Carrie Underwood,"
is currently streaming on HBO Max.
Let's take a look.
-♪ Pretty little wishes tied up in a bow ♪
♪ And every little kiss is like we're underneath the mistletoe ♪
♪ It's music to my ears ♪
♪ Christmas is my favorite time of year ♪
-♪ Christmas is my favorite time ♪
-♪ Christmas is my favorite time of year ♪
-Please welcome back to the show Carrie Underwood.
How are you, Carrie? -Hi. I'm good. How are you?
-I'm good. It's been a very long time.
The last time we crossed paths,
six years ago, you were here with our friend Brad Paisley.
-It's been too long. Been too long.
-You've recorded a lot of Christmas songs over the years.
This is the first time you've done a full album.
I imagine this is a milestone of sorts for any music artist.
-Yeah. I mean, I feel like if you have a decently long career,
it's probably somewhat inevitable
you'll do something like this.
It's always been on my musical bucket list.
But this year just seemed like the perfect year to do it.
I mean, it seemed like the perfect year
before 2020 became what it became.
But especially in the midst of it,
it was just nice to be able to create positive --
positive music and put positive, happy, peaceful, joyful vibes
into the world.
-I do think because, you know, it's such a family holiday,
I think we like when we hear Christmas songs
from people we already know.
Another thing that's the case for me with you
is I feel great warmth and comfort
when you sing the "Sunday Night Football" song.
And I'm so happy that football is back.
And I'm wondering, do you ever watch the games?
Do you ever see yourself introduce
the Sunday night slate? -I do.
It is comforting to have those things that you can count on
like holidays, like "Sunday Night Football."
It's been so much fun being able to do the open,
and we do watch football as much as we can.
I do have two small children who kind of take over
the television occasionally,
so we don't always get to watch what we want,
but we watch as much football as we can.
And it was so much fun.
Actually not too long ago, we were all sitting on the couch,
and the open came on, and my 5-year-old was like,
"That's you. Are you in the show?"
And I was like, "No, I'm not in the show.
I just introduce, you know, the game."
It was hard for him to grasp why I was singing about football.
-I wonder about this.
We have a photo of you and your son.
Isaiah is your older son? -Yes, yeah.
-And he actually appears in your special.
You got him to sing one of the Christmas songs with you.
Was he enthusiastic about this?
-He was. He loves music. He loves to sing.
I asked him.
You know, I didn't want to force him to do anything.
I was like -- I don't know what we're going to get
out of this day, but if nothing else,
he just came to work with me, gets to see what I do.
But he did such a great job.
He showed up, like, ready to work,
and he was just throwing his hands in the air.
And it was such a magical day for me just as a mom
getting to share what I love with him.
He did such a great job.
-I would imagine --
My kids are great. I got a 4 1/2-year-old.
I would give him about 30 minutes
before he was not providing anything of use.
How long did Isaiah provide high-quality work for you?
-He did a pretty good job.
I could see towards the end, his --
You know, it's like, "I saw drums in the other room,
and I really want to go play those
instead of being in here singing with you."
But we got enough, and he -- I think he would have come back
later if we needed him to, but we did not.
-That's great.
I'm very impressed with something you did.
You know, every year, I ask my wife,
"Is there something you want for Christmas?"
She says either, "Don't get me anything or whatever you think."
I'm very impressed. You told your husband
what you wanted for Christmas, and he came through, correct?
-Yes, he did.
-And what did you want? -I wanted cows.
I grew up with cows, and I love them.
They're like big dogs to me.
They're probably my favorite animal if I had to pick one.
And I've always wanted them.
So when he said, "What do you want for Christmas?"
"Cows. Get me two, just, pet, useless cows."
-Now, I will admit that if Alexi asked me to do that
I would not have any sense of what the next step is
to buy cows.
How quickly did your husband manage to procure the cows?
-He slapped some wranglers on and put his hat on,
and he was at the sale, like, two days later.
He was like, "I didn't know what was happening."
The guy was talking real fast. He was an auctioneer.
And he said, "I don't know what happened.
I think we got females. I'm not sure."
But we just raised our little paddle a couple times,
and next thing you know,
they're loading up two cows to bring home.
They were -- They're ladies. Mm-hmm.
-I would imagine this outcome for cows at auction
is about as good as you can do, to end up in Carrie Underwood's
backyard as opposed to where else you could be.
-That's why I wanted them.
He was like, "Where does one get cows?"
And I was like, "There's auctions all the time."
I said, "Go get some."
If it looks like it would make a good burger some day,
bring her home.
-Well, that is a Christmas miracle.
-I feel like I need to say that.
She will -- They will never be. They are just pets.
-They're just looking-at cows. You're very lucky to have those.
We're very lucky to have you, and thank you so much
for sticking around and doing a song for us.
We really appreciate it. -Thank you, yeah.