Idol worship: fun fearless singing sensation: Carrie Underwood is selling tons of albums and scooping up awards. Here, she talks about dating, losing weight, and the pitfalls of fame.(COSMO NEWS: summer music special)(American Idol)(Cover story)

The past two years of Carrie Underwood's life have moved at a frenetic pace. Let's take it from the top: In May 2005, the cute-as-pie country singer beat out Bo Bice to win season four of American Idol. Just six months after that triumph, she released her first solo album, Some Hearts, which has now gone platinum five times over with the help of chart-topping hit songs like "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Before He Cheats."

And the 24-year-old Checotah, Oklahoma, native has been cleaning up at awards shows ever since. To date, she's won two Academy of Country Music Awards, two Country Music Awards, five Billboard Music Awards, an American Music Award, two People's Choice Awards, and two Grammys (one for Best New Artist and the other for Best Female Country Vocal Performance). "It all seems like a crazy dream," she says softly, with just a slight Southern twang.

More like a dream come true. After spending most of 2006 on tour, Carrie's back home in Nashville, working on a second album due out this fall. Sitting on the edge of a squishy sofa, legs crossed in ladylike fashion, hands clasped on her knee, she looks girl-next-door gorgeous in a navy blue hoodie and jeans.

Despite her newfound fame--or perhaps because of it--the once aspiring journalist who tried out for Idol on a whim while attending Oklahoma's Northeastern State University appears to be making every effort to lead an unstarletlike life. "I'll go to a club here in Nashville," she says, "but I also like to sit at home with my dog and do normal people things. I love doing laundry. I love buying groceries."

Okay, so maybe success hasn't gone to her head, but it sure has gone to her body. Carrie is clearly several sizes smaller than she was on Idol--a topic she's refreshingly open about. "I gained weight on the show, p but I didn't starve myself afterward," she says. "I may think about it a little too much. I might feel guilty if I eat a pizza. But I've tried to be healthy and exercise as much as I can. If that's made me lose weight, I guess I needed to."

Her fans sometimes disagree, and Carrie admits women come up to her on the street and tell her to eat something. In all fairness, Carrie's not the first Idol contestant to succumb to the pressure to slim down. (Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, and Katharine McPhee all lost considerable weight too.) "The music business is about packaging. People have to be pleased by what they see on TV or they'll change the channel," she says matter-of-factly.

Romantic rumors are another reality of her new-found fame. Earlier this year, there were reports that she was coupled up with hottie Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. A huge football Fan, Carrie met Tony at one of his games, and while they've talked on the phone, they aren't dating. (She was also linked to fellow Idol contestant Anthony Federov but denies ever being romantically involved with him.)