To open the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-themed live episode of “American Idol” on April 27, 2025, Carrie Underwood wowed viewers with an updated rendition of the rock song she sang 20 years earlier as a contestant on the show.

Underwood won “American Idol” in 2005 and is now in her first season of judging the show. In April 2005, the country singer — who was 21 at the time — broke out of her shell to sing Heart’s “Alone” and blew away judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul.

Although that performance didn’t need a do-over, many viewers say Underwood, a huge rock music fan herself, took the tune to a new level with her 2025 rendition.

Compare Carrie Underwood’s Performances of Heart’s ‘Alone,’ 20 Years Apart

Underwood first performed Heart’s “Alone” on “Idol” in April 2005. Twenty years later, she revisited that performance in her “Idol to Icon” web series, sharing how nervous she was to appear with teased hair and sing something different than the judges were used to.

But she did so well that Cowell made the now-infamous prediction that she’d not only win the competition, but “sell more records than any other previous Idol” — a vision that did come true.

For her 2025 rendition of the classic Heart song, Underwood was full of confidence and displayed her impressive vocal range on the tune, stunning fans who flooded social media with reactions.

One wrote on YouTube, “WOW! Breathtaking. The Very Best I’ve Ever Heard Carrie Sing!”

Former “Idol” contestant and rising country star Grace Leer wrote on Instagram, “INSANE!!!!’ 🔥🔥🔥🔥”

Another fan on Instagram wrote, “Confirming we made the right choice 20 years ago 🔥👏”

During her “Idol to Icon” episode on April 24 about performing “Alone” in 2005, Underwood reflected, “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. And 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,” Underwood recalled, “I was like, ‘Okay, 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, (but) whatever. I really want to do it. So, okay, let’s go.’ Never know what’s gonna happen. Just gotta do the best you can.”

Carrie Underwood Has Been a Rock Music Fan ‘Since Birth’

Although Underwood is one of the top country music artists on the planet, she is also a huge rock n’ roll fan, so she relished watching the remaining top 14 contestants perform tunes made popular by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

After her performance of “Alone,” she took her place at the judges’ table wearing a Guns n’ Roses leather jacket, red bandana around her forehead, and ripped jeans. Explaining her outfit to host Ryan Seacrest, she said, she had to represent “the greatest band of all time with the greatest front man of all time,” Axl Rose.

In May 2023, she told Howard Stern that she’s been a Guns ‘n Roses fan “since birth” and joined the rock band for multiple concert dates that year, even serving as their unlikely opening act for three concerts in Canada.

Two years earlier, during a 2021 interview on “CBS Sunday Morning,” Underwood revealed that her workout playlists mainly consist of “metal or super-hard rock music” and said that I Prevail’s hardcore “Trauma” was among her favorites.