"He wasn't wrong" — American Idol's Carrie Underwood comments on Simon Cowell's opinion on her Top 5 performance as a contestant

American Idol judge Carrie Underwood recently reacted to former judge Simon Cowell's opinion of her rendition of Bless The Broken Road by Rascal Flatts, a song she performed in 2005, as a Top 5 contestant on the ABC show. In a video posted on American Idol's official YouTube channel on May 8, 2025, Carrie was shown the clip of her performance, where Simon said:

"Very good, other than the fact that the performance was a little robotic, you sang it beautifully."

Looking back on his comment, Carrie remarked:

"I will say, he wasn't wrong."

She explained that since it was the Top 5, she contemplated doing something "crazy," but eventually picked a song she was comfortable with. As a result, she tried to work "with the staging" to ensure her act was memorable. However, as a vocalist, Carrie admitted that whenever she tried to worry "too much" about what she did on stage, her voice suffered.

Consequently, she confirmed that Simon's assessment was not incorrect, although it was "kind of a half compliment, half not." Carrie then presented a "robotic" dance, and asked:

"Does this look a little more robotic to you [Simon]?"

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"Could've been worse" — American Idol expert Carrie Underwood on Simon's judgement of her act

While revisiting her act, Carrie said she was glad Simon's comment was not entirely negative because she knew he was capable of giving harsher judgments to contestants without holding himself back.

"I think in the moment, processing Simon's critique of my performance, we had heard him say much harsher things to others and to me as well, so it's kind of like, 'Could've been worse.' All in all, it was a thank you," she said.

The American Idol judge added that she loved Bless The Broken Road and Rascal Flatts, especially as her Top 5 song choice, because it helped her resonate with her "journey" on the ABC show and in life. She stated that it was "a cool thing to think about" at a moment when "so much was going on."

Reflecting on her time in the show, Carrie admitted that by the time she and the other contestants had reached the Top 5, the process had become "routine," like "another day at the office." Consequently, she was worried and nervous after her Rascal Flatts performance that she would be eliminated.

"I think it was like Top 3, to be honest, that I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I might actually win this thing.' I think by Top 5, I was still very cautiously optimistic," she said.

Looking at the means available to connect with fans now, Carrie said the contestants of American Idol season 23 had better options for communicating with fans. She explained how participants could use social media to get opinions from the viewers and learn about their expectations to earn their votes. It was an avenue, Carrie admitted, that her co-participants and she did not have in 2005.

She recalled that she only had a video camera and could not take many pictures, so she missed out on documenting moments from her season.

Carrie then read a journal entry from when she was on American Idol, which said:

"I really need to just trust myself and not let anything that the judges say get me down, and know that I've been so blessed and God has an amazing plan for me, whether it has to do with American Idol or music or animals or whatever. I just have to believe."

Carrie confessed that it still was a "wow" moment for her to process that, 20 years after her first appearance on the show, she was on the other side of the table, judging contestants with Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. She believed she was blessed to be part of the journey.

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American Idol can be streamed on Hulu.