Carrie Underwood brought her powerful pipes to Today on Thursday (Dec. 3). There, she sang her original Christmas song "Let There Be Peace" from her recent holiday album, My Gift, and further discussed her new HBO Max special.

Talking to Today's Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie ahead of the performance, Underwood discussed the making of the cheerful My Gift against the uneasy backdrop of 2020. Interestingly, the singer started the album before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, but recorded the special amid the crisis.

"I've wanted to make a Christmas album for a while," Underwood says. "Of course, when you start talking about all things Christmas, you start talking about ways to bring it to life in other ways. This year just seemed right for a Christmas album — we started it planning at the end of last year. So, before we knew what this year was going to be, we already had the wheels in motion."

WATCH: Carrie Underwood Sings "Let There Be Peace" on Today

The singer continues, "I got the incredible gift of getting to sing these inspirational, happy, joyful, hopeful songs … It gave me so much peace to be able to go into the studio and record these songs. Then putting the special together, it just felt so nice to be on a stage. I didn't have an audience, but I had this gorgeous orchestra and I had my band. There was so much about it that just felt like home."

Apart from not being able to perform for live audiences, the pandemic hasn't seemed to slow Underwood down. This year, the performer who amazed viewers with her vocal prowess during a 2020 ACM Awards tribute to female country artists also jointly won that ceremony's Entertainer of the Year trophy.

Elsewhere during 2020, Underwood ushered in Sunday Night Football with a new opening and re-imagined her 2011 duet with Brad Paisley, "Remind Me," for the world's current circumstances.

All that said, "Let There Be Peace" isn't the only joyful ode to be found on My Gift. For a taste of the singer's other Yuletide stuff, listeners can check out Underwood's "Hallelujah" (with fellow superstar John Legend) and "Little Drummer Boy" (performed with her 5-year-old son, Isaiah). The My Gift TV special is available to stream now.

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