Songfacts®:

• In "Forever Changed," Carrie Underwood tells the story of a young girl who grows into a woman, gets married and gives birth to a daughter before being struck down by Alzheimer's as she comes to the end of her life. Hillary Lindsey, James Slater and Tom Douglas penned the song.
  
  Underwood told ABC News one of the writers wrote it about his mother who was suffering from Alzheimer's. The songstress added it reminds her of her grandmother's death. "I get emotional even talking about this song to be honest. It's just beautiful," she said, tearfully. "It just becomes very real... and I remember my grandmother at the end of her life, looking at my dad and thinking that that was my grandfather."
• Speaking with NPR's Guy Ruz, Underwood said that she doubts if she'll ever perform this ballad, as she'd get too emotional. "I just feel like I would be messing up the song if I did that," she said. "It's one that you listen to in a quiet moment, you know, in a quiet setting and where you can really dive into the words. So I just don't feel it's right in a giant arena setting."
• Alzheimer's disease, a pre-senile dementia, was given its first full clinical and pathological description, by a German neurologist, Alois Alzheimer. The symptoms of the disease were first identified by his colleague Emil Kraepelin in his 1910 book Clinical Psychiatry, and Alzheimer observed its characteristic neuropathology. Because of the significance Kraepelin attached to finding the neuropathological basis of psychiatric ailments, Kraepelin granted Alzheimer the privilege of the disease bearing his name.
• Here are some more songs about the devastating dementia disease:
  
  1) "Silent House" by Dixie Chicks. Inspired by Natalie Maines' grandmother, who had Alzheimer's disease.
  
  2) "Veronica" by Elvis Costello. Inspired by Elvis Costello's Alzheimer's stricken grandmother.
  
  3) "The Way" by Fastball. Based on the true story of Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly Texan couple who disappeared after driving to a festival. She had Alzheimer's disease and he was recovering from brain surgery.
  
  4) "She Misses Him" by Tim Rushlow. About a woman caring for her husband, who has advanced Alzheimer's disease.
  
  5) "The Locket" by Lauren Alaina. About a granddaughter writing her Alzheimer's stricken grandmother's story.
• Speaking on Good Morning America in August 2024 about her illustrious career, Underwood disclosed why her fans will never hear this song live.
  
  "It's one of my absolute favorite songs I have ever recorded, it is so beautiful, but it makes me cry," she dished. "I've never performed it live because it's just too special, and I will bawl and not make it through, but I love that song so much."