Carrie Underwood couldn’t help but laugh as she reminisced on her dramatic, 80s-inspired hairstyle that most longtime American Idol viewers remember from the season Underwood competed on the show.

Underwood teased her mile-high hair to perform “Alone” by legendary rock band Heart. She watched the performance again in the latest installment of the Idol To Icon series on Thursday morning (April 24). The online series captures Underwood rewatching some of her most memorable moments on Idol and sharing what she remembers about the experience 20 years after her 2005 victory. Underwood chose to defy genre boundaries and cover “Alone” when American Idol’s theme for the week was No. 1 hits. before taking the stage, Underwood, then in her early 20s, said, “throughout this entire competition, I’ve kind of been the country singer, and I wanted to take a risk and break out of my shell a little bit. So I thought I’d sing an 80s rock song.”

“Song choice is so difficult when you are doing something like this because just as much as people are listening to you sing it, they’re thinking about the original song,” present-day Underwood, 42, said as she paused the Idol clip from 2005 to share her thoughts. “I remember week-to-week, you know, we would get critiqued, and it would be like, ‘oh, you know, you’re playing it so safe,’ ‘you’re being so safe with your choices,’ and it’s like, ‘well, does that matter, if I do a good job?’ And this week, I was like, ‘OK, I’m just gonna throw caution to the wind.’ And I think I even remember, like, writing in my journal how much they were not gonna like me singing this song. And being, not so much worried, I was like, ‘they’re gonna hate it. Whatever. I really wanna do it, so OK, let’s go.’ you never know what’s gonna happen.”

Underwood laughed when she paused again, immediately after seeing her hairstyle.

“The hair! The hair. That was some big hair,” Underwood reacted. “I feel like our motivation — obviously, this is a song from the 80s — wanted to kind of fit the vibe. but I was kind of self conscious of it in the moment. It was a little not how I was used to seeing myself. ...Of course, now, it’s like iconic. I wouldn’t change a thing. But kind of, at the time, I was nervous. I hadn’t fully embraced the fact that I was kind of playing a character and getting into a role. Now, I do that at the drop of a hat.”

Underwood, who paused again to praise the backing vocalist and musicians, earned significant praise from then-judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell. Jackson complimented the performance and the hair, and Abdul said the Oklahoma-born country singer took the risk “brilliantly.” Cowell famously cast a bold prediction about Underwood's future on the show and beyond.

“Carrie, you’re not just the girl to beat. You’re the person to beat,” he said. “I will make a prediction. Not only will you win this show, you will sell more records than ay other previous Idol winner.”

Underwood did win the show’s fourth season, and she went on to sell 85 million+ records worldwide and score 29 No. 1 singles throughout her two-decade career.

“What an incredible prediction,” Underwood said before reading her 2005 journal entry from that night. “From me thinking, ‘…they’re probably gonna hate it, but I’m gonna do it anyway,’ and then to get that reaction. On one hand, I think, at the time, I thought, ‘this is amazing ,’ and then about five seconds later, I thought, ‘I have a target on my back now. Everybody’s gonna hate me.’ Just because that’s such a bold — he told me I was gonna win the show. I remember thinking people might not like me after that, and being really nervous. The compliment outweighed the fear.

“I feel like there’s so many incredible artists that have come from this show. Winners and non-winners,” Underwood reacted to the outcome of Cowell’s prediction. “I mean, this is a life-changer for so many of us, and we’re still going and that’s why we’re here now. I would love to, at the end of this, have a winner that beats us all in sales and numbers. that would be absolutely incredible to be a part of that for somebody else.”

Underwood previously reacted to her “Alone” look and other 2005 fashion moments. The Denim & Rhinestones hitmaker said “She’s got a lot of hair going on,” as she took a look at a photo of herself during that performance. When asked what she was thinking when she chose the outfit, Underwood replied: “I was thinking I had to stay in budget because I ain’t have no money. I had to work with what I had, man. …I still have this, by the way. I’m pretty sure I still have this entire outfit. It’s in a box in a basement somewhere. But we might have to break it out. I don’t know. I bet we could find it.”

Previous Idol To Icon episodes recap Underwood’s Hollywood Week and her audition. Underwood is taking a look back at her time on the show as she makes her debut as a judge this season, marking two decades since her career-launching win. The country singer-songwriter’s return to the show reunites her with longtime host Ryan Seacrest. She also joins returning judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan, and Idol’s first-ever artist in residence, Jelly Roll. Watch the latest Idol To Icon episode here:

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Bob Delmont