Carrie Underwood’s new single, ‘Little Toy Guns,’ pairs heartrending lyrics with an upbeat melody to create an unforgettable song.

“The whole concept of the song is this little girl hears her parents fighting and it really affects her,” the 31-year-old American Idol alum shared during a recent interview with People magazine. “There’s so many people who can relate to a story like that. Talking about words and how much they hurt, and you just wish they were more like little playthings, things that didn’t actually do any damage.”

While the song contains a serious message about the dangers of constantly fighting in front of children, Underwood didn’t want the music video to be too solemn. “Basically we were like what do we do with this?” she notes. “I didn’t want to follow the storyline exactly and I didn’t want to be too serious, I just really wanted it to be relatable.”

Knowing that she needed to find the right person to help her tell the narrative, Underwood called P.R. Brown, who directed her ‘Two Black Cadillacs’ video. Brown pitched the idea of a storybook-themed music video where the young girl could be the hero. Underwood loved the idea, and she knew just who should play the part: Grace Rundhaug, 8, who played Marta in last year’s The Sound of Music Live!

“Whenever I thought of the types of things I wanted to see in this video, I just saw her face,” Underwood states.

‘Little Toy Guns’ is one of two new songs on Underwood’s Greatest Hits: Decade # 1 album, which was released on Dec. 9.  

See Carrie Underwood + More Country Stars as Kids

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