American Idol’s Carrie Underwood Defends Her Controversial Judging, Says She Wants ‘Everybody to Learn’

Carrie Underwood recently addressed the critics who claimed she was too harsh during her first season as a judge on American Idol.

Last week, the country star, 42, appeared on SiriusXM’s The Highway station and discussed how she feels giving honest feedback — while not always the most popular thing to do — helps the contestants be their best.

“I care so much, I really do,” she explained.

“Sometimes I get in trouble from people like, ‘How dare she say that it wasn’t perfect?’ And I’m like, I just want everybody to learn, and that’s part of it,” she shared. “And nobody wants to just hear that they’re amazing all the time.”

The eight-time Grammy Award winner noted that she and her fellow judges, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan, “are coming from a very constructive place” with their comments.

“We just want everybody to be able to grow and get better and just be the most awesome version of themselves that they could be,” she remarked.

As Star previously reported, fans felt that Underwood was too hard on Jamal Roberts — who took home the Idol trophy — during season 23 of the hit singing competition.

In June, Roberts, 27, made it clear that there was no bad blood between him and the “Before He Cheats” hitmaker.

“Carrie is a country singer, and she likes country music. I mean, I don’t think she likes every genre for real, she had her picks, and she had her [choice] of who she really liked, and she stuck with it,” he told reporter Nate Vinson at the BET 45th Anniversary Dinner in Los Angeles.

“We applaud her for sticking to her roots and sticking to who she liked, but I feel like the better person won,” he added.