NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP):

Pop-country has made superstars out of acts like Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift and more, but the term is not particularly endearing in Nashville, even to the artistes who have come to define it.

"I hate saying pop-country - I hate using that," Carrie Underwood says during a recent interview while talking about some of her favourite artistes.

Underwood, who has sold more than 10 million albums since her 2005 debut with hits that have appealed to both the MTV and CMT set, prefers to describe such music as "contemporary". But she acknowledges the sonic shift between some of her childhood idols and today's country stars.

young and hot

"I loved Alan Jackson and Brooks and Dunn, those were the people that really first made me love country music. Then there were people like Bryan White who were coming on the scene," the 26-year-old Oklahoma native explains. "And he was one of the people that was like 'OK, they don't have to all sound like this.' People can sound all kind of ways. And he was young and hot."

"I've had people tell me, 'I never listened to country music until I saw you on American Idol, and now I've been to a Rascal Flatts concert, and I went and saw so and so'," she adds. "And it's wonderful that we all kind of have our place in country music and we all pull listeners in for different reasons, and because of that we can hear everything."

Her third album, Play On, released last week, stretches her country boundaries even further. Not only did she re-team with American Idol judge and pop hitmaker Kara DioGuardi, who worked with her on her multi-platinum sophomore album, Carnival Ride, she also worked with producers known for producing smashes for the likes of Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry (Max Martin), and Eminem (Mike Elizondo).

high expectations

"I love all kinds of music and I think it's all kinds of fun when you take a slightly different element and you bring it to you and incorporate that into your music," she says.

There are high expectations for Play On. Underwood, whose debut CD Some Hearts sold about six million copies and whose second album sold nearly three million, is expected to debut at the top with this record.

And while Underwood had great pop success, she's still firmly a country queen. She nabbed the Academy of Country Music's entertainer of the year this spring, and has four nominations for the November 11 Country Music Association awards, for which she will also serve as host for the second straight year.

But Underwood is adept at bridging the gaps between country and pop, and does so again on Play On. During one stint in Los Angeles, Underwood and songwriter Luke Laird, a friend who wrote several songs on Carnival Ride, teamed up with DioGuardi and Marti Frederiksen to produce two of the album's most interesting tracks, Undo It and Mama's Song.

smart aleck

The two songs couldn't be more different. Undo It, with its revved up banjo intro and na-na-na chorus, is a great spurned-love song.

"I like to be sassy. I'm a smart aleck and it's just fun to have a little sass," says Underwood.

Mama's Song is a straight-up love tune about helping a mother gain trust for a good man who wants to marry her daughter. The presence of her boyfriend, Ottawa Senators centre Mike Fisher, can be felt on the song, the most personal of the seven Underwood wrote for the album.

"I think a lot of girls around her age are thinking about getting married," said Laird. "I think that was probably easier for her to write - not that she's thinking about getting married. I wouldn't know."

For the record, she's not getting married. But she feels comfortable enough in the relationship that it's starting to show through in her work - and add depth to it as well.

"This has been kind of my first attempt at love songs," Underwood says. "And I think there's a reason for that. I think it's because I'm a private person anyway, and I'm not so great with emotions. I consider myself more boyish in that way, so I'm pretty closed off. But you know when you're happy in your life, you can just kind of tell."