Reaction To Carrie Underwood’s Limp Bizkit Cover Is Surprising [Watch]

Carrie Underwood's four-song rock breakdown at Velocity Festival left many fans begging for a rock album. Others were remarkably unimpressed.

• Shinedown, Underwood and Creed headlined the three-day festival in Dyersville, Iowa.
• Per Setlist.fm, Underwood played 23 songs. Five were rock covers.
• This was her final show of the year, per her official touring calendar.

Carrie Underwood's Rock Set at Velocity Festival (Sept. 5)

The second-to-last song of Underwood's 23-song performance was Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine," a song she's covered many times. Before that she played these four '90s to early 2000s rock songs for the very first time:

Collective Soul, "Shine"
Papa Roach, "Scars"
Linkin' Park, "One Step Closer"
Limp Bizkit, "Break Stuff"

Underwood and Papa Roach have a history together, having recorded "Leave the Light On" together in 2024 in a partnership with American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

The Collective Soul cover is interesting because the band served as direct support for Underwood and presumably played "Shine," their biggest hit. It was something of a warmup for her nu metal set.

"One Step Closer" was Linkin' Park's debut single in 2000. Underwood would have been about 17 years old at the time, which puts her on the young end of their demo but still included.

Her cover doesn't shy from the rock-rap cadence Chester Bennington made famous. Video shows full pyrotechnics as Underwood works the stage. She took a very similar approach to "Break Stuff," Limp Bizkit's (originally released in 1999).

Reaction To Carrie Underwood's Rock Set In Iowa

Underwood’s performance — especially her Limp Bizkit cover — was a polarizing moment. Video shared by a fan page (see above) earned praise. “Carrie you can sing anything … sound great,” says @randalljohnson296.

“She is in her most fun era ever!! Give us a rock album,” adds @bermerubio.

There were mostly fire emojis and compliments there, although some politely panned the performance.

“Carrie you’re one of my favorites but pleas quit doing rap music,” says @morrisphillips129142.

On more general social media accounts, the criticism was more pointed. Digital creator Jesealee shared the video on Monday. There were mixed reviews of her commitment to a curse-free performance. There were a string of “pass” gifs and at least two people who claimed cultural appropriation.

“Someone get their drunk mom off the stage,” says @dustythepunk.

In fairness to Underwood, these criticisms were hardly well-thought-out essays on if she accomplished a goal. They were insults tossed from afar, often with some sort of unspoken political ideology behind them (she’s been called MAGA on several occasions).

Is Carrie Underwood Making a Rock Album?

Underwood established her love for rock music years ago, but until this festival, she rarely performed anything but hits from classic bands like GNR, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin.

Those performances were typically praised, but they were also a very small part of her set.

On Saturday, more than 20 percent of the show was rock covers, and four were songs she was playing (per SetList.fm) for the very first time. She tailored her set for an audience of rockers and even arrived a day early to soak up the environment.

At this point, Underwood fans would probably take any sort of new album from Underwood. but it’s a stretch to believe she’s working on something out-of-genre. This was a rock show (Lynyrd Skynyrd and Skillet were the other two direct support acts), so she played the part.