Carrie Underwood Brings Haunting ‘Ghost Story’ to the 2022 Grammy Awards

Carrie Underwood reminded fans and Grammy viewers that she is still the preeminent female voice in country music, performing her new song "Ghost Story" on Sunday night (April 3).

The stand-and-sing performance put the focus squarely on her and not any intricate choreography, as was the case for most of the performances during the 2022 Grammys.

"Ghost Story" was one of the final performances of the three-and-a-half-hour, Las Vegas-based, CBS broadcast. It was also one of the simplest. While stage-height screens reflected — Underwood currently has a Vegas residency called Reflection — Underwood's image behind and around her, she never stepped off a small platform that, for most of the performance, seemed certain to do ... something.

At the very end, the platform slowly raised a few feet, putting her just above her band. Underwood smiled as the breeze around her slowed and she took a few needed breaths. Six backing vocalists had, by that point, come from her sides to directly in front of the 2022 Grammy winner. All had a satisfied look, having performed this new song live on television for the very first time.

"Ghost Story" is a dramatic, uptempo breakup song that finds a woman threatening to haunt a lover gone bad. It's been fairly compared to "Blown Away," a song that won the singer a Grammy in 2013. The opening of this performance recalled performances of and the music video for that song, as well, with a stormy breeze lifting up her long blonde hair and tossing it around.

The 2022 Grammy performance capped a great night for Underwood. Earlier in the day she picked up a Grammy Award in the Best Roots Gospel category, and she stunned alongside husband Mike Fisher on the red carpet. The singer performed in a purple mini-dress with shimmering loops across the front. The outfit showed lots of leg, and the 39-year-old has clearly not skipped that part of her workout. Always praised for her toned calves and thighs, she now has a sprinter's muscles.