‘American Idol’ Judge Carrie Underwood Reveals the Country Star She ‘Finally’ Just Met

Carrie Underwood was thrilled when she met fellow country star Shaboozey. The American Idol winner captioned a photo of her with him smiling to Instagram, writing, “Got to meet @shaboozey last night…I’m surprised our paths haven’t ever crossed before but I’m glad they finally did!”

Parade reports both Underwood and Shaboozey performed at VOA Country Fest. Shaboozey became an instant hit with his single “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which made it onto Barack Obama’s “summer playlist” in 2024. 

Despite his success, Shaboozey has been open about stumbling into the country music genre. His hit single earned him five nominations at the 2025 Grammy Awards, but he also broke records. The song spent 19 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the longest-running No. 1 song by a solo artist in the history of the chart.

“I was honestly just trying to make music that represented where I was from in the States,” the Virginia native told Mayhem Magazine after admitting that “I started making country music without even knowing, entirely, what it was.”

“Growing up in Virginia, I tried to make music that felt like the environment that was around me. I started looking into acoustic guitars,” Shaboozey added, noting The Rolling Stones’ “Sweet Virginia.” “It’s classic, and it’s them kind of making a country song or their take on a country song. So, for me, it was making music that represented my environment.”

Of his foray into the genre in terms of songwriting, he explained his first country song he wrote was titled “Boozey Gone Nashville.” “I remember it was in Virginia. It’s about maybe 2015 or 2014,” he said, noting he and friends were playing around with a banjo. “I was kind of just experimenting, just being an artist, and my friend and I went to his house. He lived in Fredericksburg or Stafford, and he had a banjo, and that was my first time seeing a banjo in person. And he starts playing, and I was like, that is hard. I was like, that’s so cool. Let’s play it. Let’s make a song.”