Carrie Underwood on Her Father: 'I Would Love to Be the Girl That He Thinks I Am'

Carrie Underwood is definitely a daddy’s girl.

The proof is in “The Girl You Think I Am,” a tune off Storyteller she co-wrote about a daughter’s beautiful relationship with her father.

“‘The Girl You Think I Am’ is the one song on the album most likely to make me cry when I think about it or when I hear it,” Underwood, 33, says.

“When we were writing it, myself and Hillary Lindsey and David Hodges, we were all channeling our own experiences and there’s certain lines that apply to our fathers,” she says. “Anybody that knows my family will probably be able to very much pick out the lines that are about my dad and it’s about how great a father is in a daughter’s life.”

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It’s also easy to pick up on the fact that Underwood’s dad, Stephen Underwood, has a pretty high – not to mention, accurate – opinion of his youngest daughter.

“When I think about my dad I know that he thinks I am so much better than I am for real,” says a modest Underwood. “I would love to be the girl that he thinks I am because he holds me up so high and thinks I can do no wrong. He thinks I’m brave. He thinks I’m beautiful. He thinks I can do anything. He thinks I’m fearless. And he is my biggest fan so that’s definitely one that resonates with me and my own father.”

The singer previously told PEOPLE about a particular memory involving her father.

“One of the most impactful compliments I’ve ever received was given to me by my father one day when I was about 14 years old. I’d had a particularly rough day at school because I had been teased by a boy in one of my classes. He made fun of my makeup. Hey, I was just 14 … I was still learning what to do and how to do it,” she joked.

“At dinner that night, for no reason at all, my dad told me that I looked really pretty. He had no clue about what happened that day, nor is he exactly the kind of guy to give out compliments like that freely. But those words turned a bad day into a really good one.”

• With reporting by MICHELLE TAUBER