When Carrie Underwood became the season four winner of American Idol in May 2005, she still had to make it happen. The first winner Kelly Clarkson was smashing hard by then, but Ruben Studdard‘s sophomore effort was a bomb. Fantasia had done well with her debut record, as all of them, but without getting a true organic hit either. Underwood was going to quickly prove that she was more than a TV show short-lived star though.
