Carrie Underwood

Growing up, I played softball and I was a cheerleader. ”

American Idol transcends age, gender, ethnicity, everything. ”

We see new male artists have their first single reach No. 1 on the charts, but it generally takes a female a lot longer to build momentum. ”

I think after coming off of 'American Idol'... people kind of expect you to just be awesome all the time, and we're still learning. I had a lot of stage experience, but it was in a 200-seat theater, you know - it wasn't thousands of people in front of me. ”

I've never really been anywhere, and now I get to go everywhere. I just have to make sure there's enough memory on my computer to hold all my pictures. ”

I think it's okay to feel jealous, but it's how you deal with it that's the important thing. You have to be happy for your friends when they do well because you want them to do well. It's not a competition. ”

When I'm with my parents, that's the place I can unplug. That's the place I can shut down and not worry about work or what's going on. I go home and hang out with them. I sleep more there than any place else ever. ”

I want my permanent address to be in Oklahoma. Someday, when I get married and I have kids, that's where I want to raise my kids. ”

Everything's completely different, and it's been hard. Fortunately, I have a lot of wonderful people around me, and I think I'm handling things pretty well. ”

I'm a private person too, and we don't ever film anything in our home because it's off limits. It's like letting people see your messy house. ”