Carrie Underwood Marks 20-Year Milestone For Her Scathing Cheating Anthem

Carrie Underwood marked 20 years since "Before He Cheats" began playing on the radio, "and trucks have not been safe ever since then," she said in a caption on Instagram on Wednesday (August 19).

Underwood included the scathing cheating anthem, written by Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear, on her debut studio record, Some Hearts, which she released in November 2005. The 14-track album also included "Jesus, Take the Wheel," "Don't Forget to Remember Me," "Wasted," "Inside Your Heaven" and more. It arrived months after the Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter won the fourth season of American Idol and launched her career as one of the most successful country artists of all time.

"Before He Cheats" remains one of Underwood's biggest hits of her decades-spanning career; however, she previously admitted that she nearly didn't record it.

"I remember even when we were talking about recording that song, it was kind of like, 'Oh, is this too aggressive?'" Underwood reflected in an interview with PEOPLE in November 2025 at an American Idol event. She made a highly-anticipated return to the competition show last year, 20 years after her own victory. "I was like a sweet farm girl on [AmericanIdol] - and I hope that's who I still am - but it was almost, 'Maybe we don't do this song.' …But everybody loved it so much, we went for it and it ... worked. But, yeah, 20 years later, we still see people perform it, and it's a lot of fun."