Idol champ Underwood aims for crossover success
Deborah Evans

NASHVILLE—Unlike the winners before her, current “American Idol” champ Carrie Underwood is gunning for success in not only the pop format, but the country arena too. Thus, Arista Nashville, a division of RCA Label Group, is partnering with 19 Recordings and J Records in New York to promote Underwood’s November 15 debut, “Some Hearts.”
Underwood already has scored with “Inside Your Heaven,” this year’s best-selling retail single. The song — which has sold 434,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan — topped the Billboard Hot 100 in July because of its strong sales. Now she will try to earn fans on country radio.
“It’s a dual approach,” says RCA Label Group chairman Joe Galante, who says his Nashville office will handle country radio promotion for Underwood’s single “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” as well as other marketing and promotion efforts in the country community.
The J Records staff is handling the album’s title track for top 40 and adult contemporary radio as well as taking the record to retail. “It’s a split effort between the two of us,” Galante says. Underwood is depending on both labels to shepherd her efforts. “They know what they’re doing,” she says. “I’m a country singer, but because of my exposure on ‘American Idol,’ I might tend to cross over naturally.”
In recording the album, the Checotah, Okla., native, who is buying a home in Nashville, says it was important to “keep things as country as possible.” “Everybody seems to have their arms wide open to me, so that’s been great,” says Underwood, who admits her first Nashville experience was not so positive. At 15, she was turned down by labels on Music Row.
SERVING TWO MUSICAL MASTERS?
Could the two-format push hurt Underwood in the long run, especially with possessive programmers who tend to want an artist to commit solely to their format? “My experience is that country gets upset when you take a record to top 40 or AC before you take it to them or if you’re working a record simultaneously,” Galante says, “but we’re not. We’re working two separate records.”
Arista/J Records executive VP and general manager Tom Corson believes the dual approach will pay off. “Yes, it’s been awhile since an artist has been able to straddle the country and pop formats, but this is an opportunity and a time for radio to serve their audiences, and we have the records,” he says. “We see it as an opportunity to reach the broadest possible audience, because very few listeners are totally format-centric in any format. We think we can have a win-win.” “Jesus, Take the Wheel” is off to a great start on country radio, debuting at No. 39 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.