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Carrie Underwood shattered the window of a pickup truck with a baseball bat.
The country star helped destroy the vehicle when an American Idol hopeful covered Underwood’s iconic, rage-filled breakup anthem, “Before He Cheats.” Underwood released the song on her debut record in 2005, and it’s remained one of the most powerful hits of her career.
Sophia Humbert, 22, from Anthem, Arizona, delivered a piano rendition of “Before He Cheats “ in the audition room in front of Underwood — returning to the show as a first-time judge 20 years after her victory on the show — Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan. Underwood told Humbert she has “a great voice. I feel like a song like that, though, (there) has to be a little rage in there somewhere.
“It has to go somewhere,” Underwood said. “You gotta dig down deep. When I sing songs like that, I’m not an angry person. ...But everybody has stress, or, you know, like pent-up frustrations or whatever, and it has to go somewhere. And the reason I love songs like that is because, even though I would never do something like that, it’s like you get to sing your way through it.”
Bryan also encouraged the Arizona-born singer to “amp this thing up.” That’s when the trio of celebrity judges and longtime American Idol host Ryan Seacrest brought Humbert outside to destroy a truck while singing the 2005 cheating anthem. The group donned protective eyewear and gloves as they helped Humbert break the headlights, key the car, smash the windshield and more while she delivered another rendition of “Before He Cheats.” Watch that moment here: