When “American Idol” announced Carrie Underwood would be joining the judging panel for season 23, many fans worried her addition would result in favoritism among country artists.

But in the season premiere on March 9, 2025, she surprised fellow judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan with her vast knowledge of songs and lyrics from different genres, earning her the nickname “Jukebox Carrie.” But Richie and Bryan were particularly shocked when she rocked out with heavy metal contestant Kobyn Melton, who goes by the stage name Insite, and fans on social media echoed their surprise.

Despite her country roots, Underwood — who won the fourth season of “Idol” in 2005 — has been open about her love of hard rock, from performing with Guns ‘n Roses to choosing heavy metal music for her workout playlists.

Carrie Underwood & Insite Duet on Heavy Metal Band Drowning Pool’s ‘Bodies’

When 18-year-old Insite told Underwood that he works as a drum and vocal instructor at School of Rock in Naples, Florida, she replied, “So I assume you do, indeed, rock?”

“I was hoping to kind of change things up and blow the roof off of this place, see what I can do,” he responded, adding that he was going to sing Korn’s “Freak on a Leash.”

Underwood gave Insite a knowing smile, and as Insite began headbanging to his audition song, Bryan looked bewildered. But Underwood bobbed her head and quietly sang along at the table, causing Richie and Bryan’s jaws to drop.

“Who are you!?” Richie exclaimed, and she shrugged her shoulders and innocently quipped, “I’m Jukebox Carrie!”

He and Bryan then urged her to join Insite at center stage and sing a duet with him. When he said his other song choice was “Bodies” by Drowning Pool, Underwood popped up from her seat, ready to rock. Though Richie and Bryan had initially doubted Insite would fit in with the competition, all three of them voted him through to Hollywood after his duet with Underwood.

Fans were just as stunned as Underwood’s fellow judges, flooding social media with reactions, including one who tweeted, “I definitely did not have Carrie Underwood singing Korn on my Bingo card #idol”

Another wrote on Instagram, “🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌 Now THAT was AWESOME! ‘Kin A 🤘🏻”

Carrie Underwood is a Huge Guns ‘n Roses Fan & Works Out to Heavy Metal Music

Disney/Eric McCandless

Underwood has not kept her love of rock and heavy metal a secret. When Bryan asked her what her mom would think when she saw the audition, Underwood replied, “She knows. When I was a kid she was like, ‘You gotta stop listening to that music!’”

But Underwood never did. 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.

Rather than sing her country and gospel hits, she delivered her own rock sets when she opened for Axl Rose and his band. One fan posted video of Underwood performing Motörhead’s 1980 classic “Ace of Spades.” According to Setlist.fm, her set featured 18 songs that night, including Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” i-Ten’s “Alone,” Miranda Lambert’s “Somethin’ Bad,” The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” and Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.”

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.

In 2024, Underwood teamed up with rockers Papa Roach on the duet “Leave a Light On (Talk Away the Dark)” to raise money for suicide prevention. According to Forbes, the song landed her atop Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales and Alternative Digital Song Sales charts for the first time.