If anyone can write and record a song used for two of the most popular sporting events, it’s Carrie Underwood. In 2018, she released “The Champion“. On her Cry Pretty record, Underwood wrote the song with Ludacris, Brett James, and Chris DeStefano. Ludacris also appears on the track.
Videos by American Songwriter
“The Champion” quickly became the song heard around the world. It was used for both the Super Bowl that year and the 2018 Winter Olympics, held in South Korea.
The inspiring, uptempo song says, “I am invincible, unbreakable / Unstoppable, unshakable / They knock me down, I get up again / I am the champion, you’re gonna know my name / You can’t hurt me now, I can’t feel the pain / I was made for this, yeah, I was born to win / I am the champion.”
The video for “The Champion” shows athletes, along with others who have survived hardships, including Martin Luther King Jr., shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton, soldiers, and more. It has been viewed more than 100 million times.
The Story Behind “The Champion” by Carrie Underwood
NBC reached out to Underwood about writing a song they could use for the Super Bowl. It wasn’t until producers of the Olympics heard the song that they decided to include it in their coverage as well.
“When we were writing ‘The Champion,’ our main focus was to celebrate athletes at the top of their game,” Underwood says (via MusicRow). “But we also wanted the song to resonate with people in their everyday lives. We hope the lyrics will inspire people to push themselves beyond their limits to conquer anything they are trying to accomplish or overcome. There’s a champion in every single one of us!”
Underwood began writing “The Champion” with James and DeStefano before adding Ludacris later in the songwriting process.
“We left a space in it for a potential guest appearance, a potential feature,” Underwood recalls (via Songfacts). “And we went ’round and ’round about, who do we approach? Who do we ask? And in my mind, the style of the song [needed] somebody that had his own thing, had a kind of legend status. I wanted something big. I wanted an artist that matched the song. And Ludacris, everything about him just seemed to scream ‘Champion’ to me. And he was just so great.”
Once Underwood heard the finished product, with Ludacris adding his part, she knew she made the right decision.
“When we got it back, I thought, ‘Holy cow! This took it to a whole new level,’” Underwood remembers. “So, I think he was just that piece of the puzzle that was missing.”
“The Champion” reached No. 1 on iTunes in 10 countries after it was released.
Photo by David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
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