You know what's awesome? When you develop an unexpected girl crush on a celebrity you'd completely written off. This is what just happened to managing editor Annette and me after reading Allure's September cover story about Carrie Underwood. In it, the 25 year-old singer/ American Idol winner comes across as vulnerable, likeable, frugal, slightly confused and young. Which is so much more honest than when 20-something celebs try to pretend they actually know something or get all deep and pretentious about their "craft" and "life path." Sure, Underwood still looks freakishly perfect—super, super airbrushed, glossy, coiffed and skinny (she apparently has to maintain a weight of between 110 and 115lbs, so she records every snack she eats). But it's what she says that made us want to hang with her, protect her from the jerks and maybe sit her down and give her some old-fashioned sisterly advice.Read on for excerpts from the interview (the issue is on newsstands now).
On money:
The Steinway piano she craves? "I have the space. It's just waiting for the piano, but, you know, they're expensive!" The SUV she desires? "They're expensive, too!" She is still driving around in the Mustang she won on American Idol."But what if I don't earn any more next year? What if something awful happens? I'm not at the point where I say, 'OK, I've made enough.' I don't know what the limit is."
About Chace Crawford of Gossip Girl:
"We didn't have a fight. No one cheated. It plain didn't work."
On ex-bf Tony Romo:
"We were both small-town people doing very big things, and we relied on each other, dealing with fame," she says. And now? "I don't know. The phone will ring and it'll be him, and I'll maybe not answer.
"What she thinks about fame:
"You never really know why somebody wants to be around you, or if they do genuinely like you," she says. "I wish everyone had a label on their forehead so you could automatically tell their intentions. Sometimes you just wish that no one wanted anything from you."and"I really have gotten rid of a lot of people in my life that don't need to be there.
"About the inequalities in the music industry, especially country music:
"I know [the record companies] figure out their target audience is thirtysomething females. So they get these guy singers in there, thinking that will appeal to them. But there's nobody left for these thirtysomething women to relate to! The guys, they're just there to be eye candy!" She stares furiously down at her black flip-flops sprinkled with silver glitter. "We work harder than the guys do, because we have to! They think, She's doing great 'for a woman.' They don't come out and say it that blatantly. But they think it.รข€ Moreover, she continues, "There's a lot of women who should have been nominated for Entertainer of the Year. Martina McBride! Faith Hill! You know what I mean?"Meanwhile, Underwood has plans. Maybe these plans will even include Faith Hill. Underwood says she intends them to include Kellie Pickler, another Idol graduate tilling the same musical soil. "I want to have a girls-only tour and get some awesome chicks together, and have us all go out and," Underwood beams a happy smile out toward this future, "kick butt.
"On fashion and her critics:
"Whenever you wear a simple, solid color dress, they'll be like, 'Oh, she's playing it too safe.' But then you do something fun and you hear, 'Oh, she should have stuck with something simple.' Nobody is ever happy. Style is all about what you feel great in."
