Joseph Llanes
Carrie Underwood knows the world needs more than a little Christmas right now.
Luckily, she planned ahead, recording her first holiday album, My Gift early in 2020. These days, the album has taken on new meaning for Underwood and for her fans.
“We got so lucky with this project. We started working on it before everything got shut down,” she says. “It was such a bright spot in my year because I got to have Christmas real early. I got to go in and sing these songs and just feel that joy early in the year.”
That joy echoes throughout My Gift, a project years in the making. Underwood, who has toured and recorded steadily for the past 15 years, is a seven-time Grammy Award winner and a five-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, not to mention a mom of two boys. So finding time for a passion project proved difficult. But after her enormously successful “Cry Pretty Tour,” she knew the time was right.
“This is something that I’ve always wanted to do. I was like, ‘If I’m ever going to do one, I need to do it now while things are rolling and going well,” she says. “I also like to take a minute in between albums to figure out what I’m going to do with myself and the kind of music that I want to make. It felt like this would be a nice way to still be creative and do what I love, but also begin to focus on the next project. It just seemed like the perfect time.”
Released in September, My Gift includes a mix of traditional holiday classics and new original songs—two of which were cowritten by Underwood alongside frequent collaborators Brett James and David Garcia. Underwood says that while the task of writing a new and lasting Christmas song was intimidating, she trusted the creative process—and her cowriters.
“I said, ‘Let’s just go see if we can add anything valuable and reach some emotions that will add to everything. But if we can’t, there’s a million Christmas songs out there for us to choose from so let’s just see what happens,’” she says. “I don’t like putting parameters [on songwriting] because you might not get what you need out of the situation creatively. With this, there are so many different aspects of Christmas. You could sing about Jesus; you could sing about the world; you could sing about love. So we had a little wiggle room in our feelings about Christmas.”
The Underwood co-written tracks include lead single “Let There Be Peace,” a song that’s both timely and timeless, and finds the singer—backed by a gospel choir—praying for a safer, more loving world. The album also includes notable collaborations. “Hallelujah,” a duet with John Legend, was cowritten by Legend himself. The piano-heavy ballad offers a message of hope as told in the soaring harmonies of the duo’s perfectly paired voices. With its sweet-and-strong sound, it’s destined to become a Christmas classic. But it’s the duet with a young singer making his debut on My Gift that will have everyone’s attention: Underwood’s 5-year-old son Isaiah Fisher joins her on the classic “Little Drummer Boy.” His sweet little voice rings out so clearly on the song’s second verse, before trading lines with his mother as it reaches its crescendo, that he comes off like a seasoned pro.
“He’s a pretty good little singer! I mean, I know I’m his mom, but—” laughs Underwood. “When we first recorded that song, I did the whole thing myself and I was like, ‘OK guys, I have this crazy idea. Isaiah loves music and he has such a special, tender heart for Jesus. He’s what I think of [in the song] because he would be that child who would bring some sort of gift—something he made or something he was good at.”
Underwood knew that getting into a recording studio with a five-year-old might be a struggle.
“I knew it might not work. He might clam up and not want to do it. I didn’t want to pressure him, but I was like, at least he’ll get to see what Mommy does and we’ll have that special moment of sharing what I love with him. Even if it never sees the light of day, it’s something I can have forever.”
The singer needn’t have worried. Not only was Isaiah a natural in the studio, he showed up to work dressed for success.
“He comes downstairs in this button-up plaid shirt that we might have him wear to church, boots, and a fedora. I said, ‘Whoa, buddy, look at you, you’re all dressed up.’ He said, ‘I’m singing for Jesus today, so I wanted to look nice.’ It was so sweet. Even at five years old, he understands the concept of wanting to be respectful and give it your best. That song hits me in the heart for sure. I must have listened to it a thousand times.”
Isaiah’s appearance adds to the authenticity of the album, throughout which Underwood’s appreciation for the season is apparent.
“At the core of My Gift we just wanted the heart to be real and big behind it. Everything we did, we wanted to do for the right reasons, and I feel like we got that in the finished product,” she says. “Having Isaiah, having John Legend come and sing on it. Every aspect of this Christmas album, I feel like it was really watched over throughout all the steps. If we had been a month later in starting to prepare for it, we would have gotten shut down by COVID and none of this would’ve happened. I really feel like we’ve been watched over and it makes me feel really good. There’s a lot of heart in this album and I’m really proud of that.”
Joseph Llanes
Underwood will bring that authentic Christmas spirit to the small screen with a holiday special produced by Tom Hanks. The event, streaming on HBO Max this month, will include performances by Underwood alongside a live orchestra and choir, performing a combination of beloved traditional favorites celebrating the spiritual nature of the holiday.
Both the special and the album have given Underwood—and her fans—a way to celebrate Christmas earlier than they might have in previous years.She notes that all of us are looking for some extra holiday spirit these days—for more reasons than one.
“I’ve heard of people decorating their houses with Christmas stuff early, and about radio stations that usually flip over and start playing Christmas music. They’re doing it earlier this year. People do need Christmas. They need some hope, some happiness to look forward to,” she says. “I also think people just want this year to be over. Christmas is the happy finish line to 2020.”
Underwood herself has had a busy 2020. The multiplatinum singer and activewear designer released her first fitness and lifestyle book, Find Your Path: Honor Your Body, Fuel Your Soul, and Get Strong with the Fit52 Life, in March; in early fall she returned as the voice of the Sunday Night Football theme; and in September she made history when she and Thomas Rhett tied for the coveted ACM Entertainer of the Year title. “2020, man!” she exclaimed as she accepted the award. The shared honor was just one of many 2020 firsts for the annual awards show, which saw its performers singing to empty rooms on the telecast. Luckily, Underwood, who performed on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry several times throughout the night, was prepared for the new normal.
“I was really glad I played the Opry [a few weeks prior] and got to be onstage and see it empty,” she says. “But I would say that the feeling of gratitude and happiness—getting to sing and getting to play—outweighed the weirdness. Even writing sessions and stuff like that aren’t really happening right now, so that outlet has been taken away from us to some extent. I could still walk around my house and sing however much I want to, but getting to be onstage with a microphone in hand... I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder.”