Carrie Underwood took a step away from her personal discography over the weekend, throwing the crowd for a loop with a few setlist shakeups at Iowa’s Velocity Festival.
Located on the iconic Field of Dreams site, the Friday, September through Sunday, September 6 event hosted rock-centric bands Shinedown and Creed, with Underwood wedged in the middle as the headliner of Saturday night’s show. Fitting with the head-banging theme, Underwood decided to put her own spin on a few classics ranging from Linkin Park, Papa Roach, Collective Soul, Guns N’ Roses, and her currently most viral performance of Limp Bizkit.
For those who don’t know, Underwood’s nu-metal crossover doesn’t necessarily come as a shock, considering the American Idol host and winner has always been very vocal about her love for rock music. However, unfortunately, I think the internet is still picking its jaw up off the ground following her cover of the 1999 single, “Break Stuff.”
MANY videos are currently circulating on the internet, with fans from the country music world and beyond reacting to Underwood’s unique, to say the least, song choice. There’s no denying that Underwood’s always had some pretty spectacular vocals, hence why America voted her as the season four winner of Idol, but I’m not sure the high-energy song necessarily shows off her pipes spectacularly.
And while I do have to give her props for sticking to her morals and censoring out the cuss words, c’mon… It’s Limp Bizkit. Many people online agreed, calling her out for the kiz-bop-ification of the profanity-filled track:
There were also quite a large number of people just downright hating on the cover. Some of the backlash was likely fueled by Underwood’s already-tarnished image online, particularly among those opposed to her political views, while others were simply appalled by the performance itself and the genre crossover:
The internet wasn’t a complete hate fest, though. There were still some Underwood supporters across the board applauding her for showing off her “metal” side and at least bringing an undeniably high-energy performance to the stage:
Now I’m no TV talent competition judge, so who am I to say whether or not this performance was Hollywood-worthy. However, do I think it was her best work? Definitely not. Was it a fun switch-up and appropriate for the crowd at hand? Definitely.
I’m not saying Underwood can’t do a stellar rock-blending cover, but maybe let’s stay away from Limp Bizkit from now on. To see for yourself, check out her performance below, along with some of the other covers from Saturday night’s show.