"The Champion" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...

, featuring rapper

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

. The song was released on January 12, 2018, and was recorded to serve as an opening theme for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

's television broadcast of

Super Bowl LII Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the American Football Conferen ...

. It was included as a bonus track on Underwood's sixth studio album ''

Cry Pretty ''Cry Pretty'' is the sixth studio album by American singer and songwriter Carrie Underwood. The album was released on September 14, 2018, as Underwood's first album with Capitol Records Nashville after signing a global deal with Universal Music ...

''. The song entered at number 47 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States.

Background

The song's lyrics revolve around recovery from obstacles. The song was relevant to both

and the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

, which were both being broadcast by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

in the United States; Underwood also performs the theme song for the network's '' Sunday Night Football''. Underwood stated that "the main focus was to celebrate athletes at the top of their game, but we also wanted the song to resonate with people in their everyday lives". The song was featured in the intro for NBC's Super Bowl LII broadcast; in the sequence, Carrie Underwood performed on a soundstage with a screen showing highlights from past

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

games.

Composition

The song is set in the key of

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the cont ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 90 beats per minute in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

. It follows a chord progression of Gm–B–F–D, and Underwood's vocals span from G₃ to C₅.

Commercial performance

"The Champion" sold 61,000 units in its first week and debuted at number 47 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 becoming that week's Hot Shot Debut. Following the video premiere of the song during the

, it saw an increase in streaming—668,000 on-demand streams on February 5, a 110 percent rise compared to what it tallied on February 3. The song was certified Platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on January 24, 2019. As of May 14, 2018, the single has sold 314,000 copies in the United States.

Music video

The official music video for the song was released on March 2, 2018. The video, directed by Jimmy Lynch, shows a montage of different embodiments of "champions" encompassing range of athletes, students and soldiers alike. There's also strong references to female empowerment, with clips of shark attack survivor and surfer

Bethany Hamilton Bethany Meilani Hamilton (born February 8, 1990) is an American professional surfer and writer who survived a 2003 shark attack in which her left arm was bitten off and who ultimately returned to professional surfing. She wrote about her exper ...

appearing next to images of the

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

. Underwood also appears in the video in various clips of her recording the song in the studio, clips from her tour, as well as on a running trail, and even in footage from her audition for ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

''. The video received three nominations at the 2018

CMT Music Awards The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel. Voting takes p ...

for "Video of the Year", "Collaborative Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year", ultimately winning the last one and extending Underwood's record for most CMT Music Award wins.

Live performances

Underwood and Ludacris performed the song live for the first time at the 2018 Radio Disney Music Awards on June 23, 2018. The performance was accompanied by the West Los Angeles Children's Choir, who filtered through the audience and made their way to the stage towards the final chorus.

Awards and nominations

CMT Music Awards The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel. Voting takes p ...

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Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Champion 2018 singles 2018 songs Capitol Records Nashville singles Carrie Underwood songs Ludacris songs Song recordings produced by Jim Jonsin Songs written by Brett James Songs written by Carrie Underwood Songs written by Chris DeStefano Songs written by Ludacris Country rap songs