What to Know
Have you heard that sometimes your political affiliations can actually start to affect the way you look? Well, that’s what some people are saying about American Idol judge and country singer, Carrie Underwood. Ever since she performed at Donald Trump‘s Inauguration ceremony in January 2025, some people have been giving her major side eye for showing the world where she stands. Last week, when she posted a behind-the-scenes photo from American Idol, she has been ripped to shreds in the comments with some folks saying that she now looks practically ‘unrecognizable’. What do you think?
Carrie Underwood shared a backstage ‘American Idol’ selfie and most people couldn’t believe it was her.
Does anyone remember the cute rosy cheeks and light-colored locks Carrie Underwood was sporting when she was just 21 years old and winning the fourth season of American Idol? Oh, how times have changed.
Even though she was probably just contractually filling her job obligations by posting on socials for her job as an American Idol judge, it doesn’t mean that people are automatically going to go easy on her. When she posted a backstage selfie last week on Instagram asking people to get their votes in for the show that evening, her overall look in the photo took a lot of people by surprise.
In the photo, she’s quite bronzed up with heavy makeup — which may or may not be for television — and sporting darker hair that’s half pulled back. Several people in the Instagram comments shared their thoughts. One person commented, “Wtf happened to her omg.” Another person wrote, “Oh Carrie… Go back to your natural beauty. You don’t need all that makeup and stuff. You’re naturally so beautiful.”
One individual who is connecting those dots that not everyone wants to see commented, “She’s been MAGAfide.”
Some people are connecting Carrie’s look to a ‘Republican makeup trend’ some folks have spotted.
Someone on X couldn’t help themselves when they posted a side-by-side photo of someone sporting what’s been called the ‘Republican makeup’ look alongside Carrie’s backstage American Idol look from last week. The person captioned the post with, “You can tell Carrie Underwood is really a MAGA.” Yikes.
One thing that’s apparent from the Republican makeup look is that it may involve some super dark and filled in eyebrows along with some overlined lips and not so subtle eye makeup. There may also be some super bronzed cheek bones that don’t look particularly natural, but to each their own, right?
One person in the ‘How to avoid Republican makeup’ Reddit thread not so subty called it, “Its porn makeup because that’s how you attract and keep a Republican man.” Another person in the Reddit comments shared a similar perspective. “My incredibly personal opinion, but “republic make up” leans towards the male gaze and by that I mean: early 2000’s playboy and high budget porno style,” they wrote. Ouch.
Some are going as far to say that Carrie Underwood has joined the ‘MAGA cult’ and her look confirms it.
Has the country singer “gone full Mar-a-Lago” or are people going a little too hard on her in the comments lately? Someone on X posted another recent photo of Carrie on stage at American Idol with the caption, “Cafe Mom: Carrie Underwood’s new look has critics saying she’s ‘gone full Mar-a-Lago.’ MAGAts are in a weird cult for sure!” Hey — they said it, we didn’t.
One person in the X comments tried to explain what they thought when they first saw this photo of Carrie. “My first thought… she looks familiar, like someone I know. Who is it? Then I realized, she looks like lots of people I know now. They’re all looking like clones of each other. Factory assembly-line faces,” they wrote.
Another individual in the X comments agreed. They shared, “Why are they doing this??? She was gorgeous and now she looks like a fish. Do whatever you want to do, but these facial surgeries are out of control. Mar-a-Lago face is all too real, and all too horrifying.” Well, that’s fairly harsh.
Whether you agree or not, you must admit that Carrie’s overall appearance has certainly changed over the years. Does it have to do with a certain political party or is she just trying out some new makeup looks?
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