Singer Carrie Underwood tries to be modest about her success since winning "American Idol" in 2005, but there's no denying that she has the total package of talent, looks, attitude and songs needed to become a crossover superstar like Shania Twain.

Despite selling nearly 11 million albums in her short post-"Idol" career, Underwood makes a believable case that she isn't obsessed with entering the orbit realm of Twain, who used sexy looks, sassy attitude and a slick country-pop sound to go global in the mid-'90s.

Underwood also has drawn comparisons to Faith Hill, Martina McBride and Reba McEntire, who, too, have used big talent and savvy marketing to cross over to pop and adult-contemporary radio and become household names far beyond Nashville's orbit.

"No, I don't have goals like that," Underwood says. "I just do what I do and hope that I can keep doing it. If stuff like that happens, then it's awesome. But if not, then that's fine, too."

"I think she's absolutely unstoppable," says Beville Darden, editor of AOL Music's country site, TheBoot.com. "I see her surpassing Shania's popularity eventually. She's already sold 11 million albums (in three years). That's a feat that not many people can boast in any genre. And Carrie's only 25 years old and on her second album."

Surpassing Twain is a tall order. The Canadian-born star recorded the largest-selling album ever by a female singer (1997's "Come on Over"), and is she's the only female performer in any genre to have three albums top 10 million in sales.

Add to that challenge the simple fact that the music business has seen scores of artists who had talent, good looks and strong songs but failed to find that magic chemistry that turns on country and pop listeners alike. Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, Deana Carter, Alison Krauss and similar artists all have released material that has flirted with pop, but they haven't tasted the crossover success that Underwood has so quickly.

'Idol' advantage

Winning "American Idol" gave Underwood's career a huge initial boost. It also gave her exposure to both the pop and country crowds before her debut album, 2005's "Some Hearts," even hit the shelves.

"I was lucky, because I got to reach a lot of different types of music listeners through 'American Idol' and was lucky enough to get a fan base of people who didn't necessarily listen to country music at all," says Underwood, who was an Oklahoma college student when she auditioned for the show.

The opportunity to sing country and pop tunes for tens of millions of "Idol" viewers allowed her to dip into both styles when she started recording albums, says David Reeder, vice president of GreenLight, a global consulting firm that links corporations and ad agencies with celebrities and music and film content.

Of course, several performers who did well on "American Idol" failed to build similar success. Fellow winners Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard and Jordin Sparks have struggled to translate "Idol" crowns into huge album sales and concert crowds.

"You have to overcome the perception that you are a manufactured star, and that ultimately lies in the performers themselves," Reeder says.

Building success

Underwood, after hitting No. 1 on Billboard's mainstream-pop chart with her "American Idol" single, "Inside Your Heaven," put her debut album in the hands of top Nashville songwriters who were attuned to modern country, which mixes liberal doses of pop and rock with traditional twang.

The "Some Hearts" CD debuted at No. 1 on the country charts and spawned a string of singles that performed well on the pop, adult-contemporary, country and contemporary-Christian charts.

She beat out Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Nickelback, Shakira and Mary J. Blige to score the largest-selling album of 2006 with "Some Hearts," which has sold more than 7 million.

Underwood maintains that she's a country artist first and won't compromise her sound for the sake of crossing over.

"We've never really pushed anything as far as things crossing over," says the singer, who grew up on her parents' farm in Checotah, Okla.

" 'Before He Cheats' is our biggest crossover song to date (spending more than a year on Billboard's Hot 100 chart), and we were told upfront that it was too country and that we needed to change the music on it ... so it sounded more poppy. I'm not willing to do that.

"I remember growing up and listening to these (country) songs that I loved, and they were such great songs. Then it always seemed like people - and I don't want to use this word in the wrong way - but they dumbed-down the song and put some stupid synthesizer, drums ... (prerecorded) loops on it that I really thought cheapened the song to make it fit into another format."

The Next Step

Underwood's latest batch of singles runs the musical gamut from soaring ballad ("So Small") to rowdy country-rock ("Last Name") to diva-worthy country-pop ("All-American Girl") to patriotic tear-jerker ("Just a Dream").

Even the honors she's earning blur the boundaries: A wax figure of Underwood recently was unveiled at Madame Tussauds New York, but she also was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in May. She has appeared twice on "Saturday Night Live" and co-hosted this year's edition of country music's biggest awards show, the CMAs.

As Darden says, "She's doing everything right."

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so a article about something she says she's not interested in doing, odd