Carrie Underwood Responds To Criticism That She Is Too Tough As An ‘American Idol' Judge

American Idol 's Carrie Underwood does not believe she is too harsh as a judge on the show she won 20 years ago.

Underwood, 42, responded to the critics in an interview with Sirius XM's The Highway on Wednesday, September 24, defending her feedback as constructive.

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

She then conceded that "maybe some people do," but that only hearing positive feedback is "not going to get you anywhere."

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

Being a judge, she said, has come with its own set of challenges, including being open and authentically herself on camera.

"I'm slightly better than I used to be," she added. "But I've just never been great at putting down the walls and feeling like I could be myself."

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Underwood won season 4 of American Idol in 2005, competing alongside the likes of Constantine Maroulis and runner-up Bo Bice . She released her debut album, Some Hearts , later that year, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums list.