With the May 1st release of her fourth album, Blown Away, coming up fast, Carrie Underwood spoke with us recently looking back on the past seven years, and she feels very blessed to have enjoyed the incredible support she’s received from her fans, ever since her days on American Idol. And the fact that so many fans have been with her since the beginning really means the world to Carrie. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Carrie is currently all over the radio with her smash, “Good Girl,” the first single from her Blown Away album!
• Check out Carrie as the cover feature in the latest issue of Vegas Magazine — you can see it online here.
• Keep up with Carrie at CarrieUnderwoodOfficial.com — and you can pre-order Carrie’s Blown Away album while you’re there!

  Carrie Underwood is very grateful to the fans who’ve been so supportive of her over the years. (1:16)
“I’m in a unique position. You know, most other artists, it’s like they work hard, they get a record deal, and they put out an album, and then, you know, the steam rolls a little bit more, and then they gather fans along the way. I came into this music industry in a different way through American Idol, and I feel like I’m an elected official, often, because they voted me in. They voted for me. I still get people coming up to me all the time saying, ‘I voted for you! Oh, my gosh, it’s been so great to see everything that’s happened in the past seven years.’ And…or little kids saying, ‘I’ve listened to you ever since I was a baby,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m old now,’ but (laughs) it’s been really, really great to have that support from the beginning. They made me. They put me where I am, literally, through their votes and through their support and through them buying the albums afterwards. And I know there have been so many that have really hung in there and really been there since the beginning, and we do our fan club stuff, and it’s like, oh, my gosh, it’s the sixth year, you know? This is the sixth year of the fan club. There are people, a big chunk of people, that have been there since the first year, and that means a lot.”