Lauren Alaina Goes Toe-to-Toe With Carrie Underwood in ‘American Idol’ Duet of ‘Before He Cheats

Lauren Alaina more than held her own with returning ‘American Idol‘ champion Carrie Underwood, during a duet of the latter’s 2006 smash ‘Before He Cheats.’

As opposed to the other vocal performances of the night, which each got big introductions, the performance started right out of a commercial. It was a dramatic move that ensured that all eyes were on her, and all ears were evaluating her vocal abilities without any sort of mental preparation.

Alaina was dressed all in black while Underwood came out mostly in white; and when they started circling each other, it seemed like an actual confrontation for a minute. From the “eye of the tiger” look on Lauren’s face, Carrie’s lucky it wasn’t a real fight.

Instead, they teamed up, and delivered a powerful take on the song. Underwood, who won Season 4 of the show back in 2005, no doubt knows every single nervous feeling Alaina is going through right now. Imagine having to perform on the biggest episode of one of the most popular shows in the country, with your hero, while you’re less than an hour away from finding out if you’re going to win ‘American Idol?’

Considering all that, we’d have to say Lauren Alaina did a pretty darn good job, don’t you think?