Carrie Underwood dashed fans’ hopes with just one little word during a stop on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote the upcoming season of American Idol.
Underwood, along with her fellow Idol judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, were nearing the end of their interview when Kimmel casually asked all three about their tour plans for 2026.
Richie teased some tour news in the pipeline, and Bryan announced his summer tour plans just last week.
But when it came to Underwood, she made it clear she’s not planning to headline this year. “No tour?” Kimmel asked her.
“No! Nah,” Underwood replied, gesturing to her fellow judges and joking, “I’ll go see them.”
And that was that: No explanation, no further discussion. Fans haven’t had any reason to expect a tour from Underwood, exactly, but her tour calendar is unusually empty this year, with just four one-offs and festival dates on the books.
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Why Isn’t Carrie Underwood Touring This Year?
The most obvious possible reason is that she doesn’t currently have an album to promote. Underwood hasn’t released a full album since Denim & Rhinestones came out in 2022. She went on a tour of the same name in 2022 and 2023
Read More: Luke Bryan Calls Out Carrie Underwood After She Says She’s Not a ‘Crier’
Since then, the singer’s been busy with her Reflections Las Vegas residency, but that run of shows wrapped in April 2025. She has also been dedicating significant time to projects like Idol.
Still, her fellow judges are planning tours in addition to their Idol schedule commitments, so that’s not a totally comprehensive answer for why Underwood didn’t choose to headline this year.
Read More: 9 Bold Country Music Predictions for 2026
Taste of Country predicted a tour — or at least, something big — from Underwood this year. We also speculated that she could be working on an album, and her Kimmel interview doesn’t count that possibility out.
When Does American Idol Season 24 Start?
The new season of American Idol premieres on Monday (Jan. 26) at 8PM ET/7PM CT.
This season delivers some significant format changes. Hollywood Week is moving to Nashville, and instead of the usual multiple rounds of performances and cuts, it’ll be just one cut-throat round of competition.
Read More: Luke Bryan Admits Carrie Underwood is Better at This Than He Is
Of course, Nashville is the city that Bryan and Underwood call home, so their commute to work will be significantly shorter for Hollywood Week this time around.
20 Things Carrie Underwood Has Done Since Winning ‘American Idol’
Carrie Underwood has been, well, busy since winning Season 4 of American Idol in 2005. Since the confetti fell, the country singer has released nine albums and embarked on seven tours. She’s also tried her hand at acting and launched a handful of businesses.
Over the years she’s become one of the biggest success stories to come out of the show, winning countless awards and amassing a staggering net worth of over $100 million.
Keep scrolling to see 20 things Underwood has done since her time on the reality singing competition.
