Carrie Underwood

7:30 p.m. Friday, December 5. Chaifetz Arena, One South Compton Avenue.

Dec 3, 2008 at 4:00 am

[
          {
            "name": "GPT - Leaderboard - Inline - Content",
            "component": "41932919",
            "insertPoint": "5th",
            "startingPoint": "3",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "3",
            "maxInsertions": 100
          }
          
        ]

Forget Nostradamus: Simon Cowell saw the future in Carrie Underwood and that future is now, courtesy of the country star machine that was desperate for someone to fill Shania's über-diva heels in a post-"Redneck Woman" world. (American Idol was good to her but nothing like CMT and Clear Channel.) One might begrudge Underwood her media saturation were it not for the cheeky, good-girl-gone-bad talent behind the ultimate-makeover blondness. On last year's Carnival Ride, she sounds a little more gritty and twangy — banjos and fiddles stand at attention — even when wailing out power ballads as big and conservative as her native Oklahoma. When she struts down the walk of shame on the Cuervo-buzzed single "Last Name," she brings the catharsis to a table-dancing shot party rocking a karaoke bar near you soon.