American Girl.(Carrie Underwood)

Byline: --HANNAH MORRILL

Who? Carrie Underwood. What? The September cover of allure, shot by Michael Thompson. When? May 9. Where? Studio Berry Hill in Nashville, where the singer currently lives. Why? The American Idol winner's second album, Carnival Ride, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and has gone multiplatinum. Time Traveler: Underwood may have arrived in flip-flops, but she was ready to transform into the glamorous '60s actress Ursula Andress for the shoot. Makeup artist Brigitte Reiss-Andersen had worked with Underwood before and came up with the idea: "You can tell watching her perform that there's this edgy person just waiting to burst out." In the Mix: One of Thompson's assistants plugged his iPod into the speakers but was afraid the singer wouldn't like his selections. "Oh, Carrie loves almost anything," her publicist, Jessica Schmidt, told him. His playlist included the Rolling Stones and the Good Gospel Truth, a local Nashville group--which Underwood loved. (She also admitted to a fondness for hair bands like Motley Crue and Poison.) Idol Chatter: The singer hadn't seen the last few shows yet and asked everyone to keep the winner a secret. "I TiVo every episode," she said. Mall or Nothing: Reiss-Andersen offered to tone down Underwood's makeup before she headed out the door, but the singer loved it so much that she kept it. She signed a few autographs for the crew before heading off to shop for cosmetics at a mall with her mother and sister--fake eyelashes and all.

Hair How-to

"We kept the hair very easy and very cool for the cover--just like Carrie," said ...