‘American Idol’ Star Gabby Barrett Reveals Why She Almost ‘Fell Over’ With Carrie Underwood

Former American Idol contestant and country star Gabby Barrett spoke about how she almost “fell over with Carrie Underwood” when the latter gave her some useful advice on handling fame after she appeared on the long-running competition show. The “I Hope” singer spoke candidly about her various interactions with Carrie in a new interview as she admitted that she was so bowled over with how nice the 37-year-old star was to her that she almost fell to the ground.

“I nearly fell over with Carrie Underwood because she is just somebody that I’ve looked up to. You can’t like country music and not like Carrie Underwood. She’s the best,” Gabby explained in a recent interview with TV Insider.

Gabby shared that the “Before He Cheats” singer gave her a lot of advice both while she was on the show and after she came in third place on Season 16 in 2018.

“She gave me advice on ‘Idol’ when I met her. She gave me nice advice after the show. She said I was going to be fine,” the singer said.

Carrie served as a mentor and dished out a few words of wisdom during the Top 5 week in Season 16 when all the contestants sung one of her songs.

Gabby added that the mom of two also told her that she was a big fan of her voice and the gritty tone it has. She admitted that although a lot of people have compared the two singers, Carrie also said to her that there were a lot of things that aren’t so similar about them as well.

“A lot of people had made the comparison of me and her together. She talked about how there was also some not-similarities too,” Gabby explained, adding that Carrie was “very nice” to her.

Carrie — who recently stunned in a makeup-free photo — and Gabby do have a number of similarities. Both are blond country stars with a pop style who got their starts on the singing show. Carrie famously won Season 4 of the competition back in 2005 when it aired on Fox, but the series now airs on ABC.

Gabby is also teaming up with Carrie’s close friend of a number of years, Brad Paisley. The two are heading out on tour together later this year, and Gabby admitted in the same interview that she’s been a big fan of the country star after seeing him present the CMA Awards alongside Carrie for a decade.

“He has always been somebody who I’d hear on the radio and see on television and on the award shows growing up. You don’t even see them as human beings until you actually see them in person,” she said.

Gabby’s gushed about Carrie before and even previously credited her and her important advice with kick-starting her career.

She revealed in an earlier interview with People Magazine that the “Drinking Alone” singer urged her not to waste any time and to head straight to Nashville for songwriting sessions, which is exactly what she did and quickly wrote her hit single “I Hope.”

The song has peaked inside the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 5 on Billboard’s U.S. Hot Country Songs chart.