Carrie Underwood surprised the 2025 Dove Awards crowd with a performance of her nominated hit song.

Carrie Underwood joined Ben Fuller to sing their Dove Award-nominated song, “If It Was Up To Me.” Fuller kicked off the song on his own before welcoming Carrie to the stage. The crowd erupted in applause, clearly surprised to see the country star there.

Ben Fuller talked about the song in a red carpet interview prior to the awards show. He told the press, “That song sat on a shelf for 3 1/2 years and just came out of a place of – I’m so thankful it’s not up to me. It it was, I’d be dead right now probably.”

Fuller then shared how his collaboration with Carrie Underwood came about, crediting Underwood’s husband, Mike Fisher, for bringing them together. Fuller said that he and Fisher had breakfast together for over a year before he realized that Fisher was married to Carrie Underwood.

“[Mike] shares the song with her, and then she loves it and believes in it, and then comes alongside me for this collaboration,” Fuller said. “Their whole family loves Jesus so much. She’s incredible, and it just really elevated the song to another level.”

“If It Was Up To Me”

“If It Was Up To Me” was released in April as the first single from Ben Fuller’s album Walk Through Fire. Ben Fuller is somewhat new to the music scene. He made his debut in 2023, and to date has more than 256M career streams. His song “If I Got Jesus” earned more than 1.5B short-form video views on social media and more than 2.1M TikTok creations, according to his website.

Ben Fuller earned a Dove Awards nomination for New Artist of the Year in 2023, and nods for Bluegrass/Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year in 2024 and 2025.

In 2025, the nomination was for Fuller’s collaboration with Carrie Underwood. Ultimately, Jelly Roll and Brandon Lake took home the trophy for their song “Hard Fought Hallelujah.”

Watch Carrie Underwood and Ben Fuller’s Dove Awards performance of “If It Was Up To Me” below.

@cu_countryidol Repost Carrie singing “If It Was Up To Me” with Ben Fuller from the 2025 Dove Awards 🕊️ 🎥: @tbn #carrieunderwood #benfuller #IfItWasUpToMe #DoveAwards #2025 @Carrie Underwood @GMA Dove Awards ♬ original sound – 🎶Kailyn🎶 (Est. June 5, 2024)