How Carrie Underwood Emerged From Her Toughest Year Yet

While he fell short, announcing he was hanging up his skates in May after taking his team to the brink of the Western Conference finals, Underwood is notching plenty of victories.

When the singer, who hasn't put out an album since 2015's Storyteller, released the music video for her and Ludacris' Super Bowl jam "The Champion", it garnered nearly three million views in the first three days. She also scored her 13th ACM Awards nod for Female Vocalist of the Year and, along with collecting a trophy for Vocal Event of the Year for her work on Keith Urban's track "The Fighter", she earned a standing ovation for her "Cry Pretty" rendition at the Apr. 15 Las Vegas event. 

"When you're singing something that is straight from your heart, it's easy to just be in the moment and be connected to it," she told Hoda Kotb on Today May 10. "I never realized how much it translates until after the ACM Awards. It was, like, wow, you know, there was something different about that performance."

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