American Idol fans are likely pleased to know that Carrie Underwood will again sit alongside Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie when the singing competition’s 24th season kicks off on the 2026 TV schedule. Not only is she returning as a judge for a second season of the singing competition she won two decades ago, she’s also trying to impact pop culture. The country music star pitched an idea for ending the viral “6-7” trend, and she might be onto something.
In-person auditions have begun for American Idol Season 24, as evidenced by an amusing video of Carrie Underwood talking to a potential contestant named Uzziah. The phrase “6-7” gets brought up — as it does oh so often these days — and she shared a pretty brilliant idea for making it all stop:
In the video — posted, appropriately, 67 days before American Idol returns on January 26 — the hopeful contestant mentions hearing kids say, “6-7” all day. Carrie Underwood responds by doing the corresponding hand movement before enlisting Uzziah’s help in ending the trend. She said:
Every time the kids say ‘6-7,’ we have to immediately say, 5-3-0-9. And if we all band together and do that, it will stop. It’s gonna take all of us.
Carrie Underwood has two boys at home, born in 2015 and 2019, and as someone with a teen and a pre-teen myself, I stand in solidarity. Honestly, what did schools think was going to happen when they started banning the phrase? That’s a good way to ensure the longevity of a trend, not the end of it.
To that point, I agree with Carrie Underwood and Uzziah here — I think this could work. Not because I think kids know (or care) about the Tommy Tutone song “867-5309/Jenny” from the ‘80s, but because nothing kills the vibes quicker than when mom starts singing.
Admittedly, this is probably not true in Carrie Underwood’s case, but the quickness with which I can empty a room is impressive, and my girls will be scurrying in double-time if the tune I’m singing has the numbers “6-7” in it. Even without the singing part of it, when adults start using popular slang terms, it’s time to retire them (the slang, not the adults).
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So far, Dictionary.com making it its Word of the Year for 2025 hasn’t deterred those Gen Alphas, so it’s possible that the invincibility of “6-7” is as nonsensical as its meaning. As for what it means, exactly, it’s one of the more unsatisfying responses you’ll get from Google or Urban Dictionary or wherever you go when you’re too ashamed to ask a real person. Its popularity stems from the rap song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Skrilla, and Dictionary.com basically says it’s a catch-all word with no definition.
Wow, dictionary, you had literally one job. The entry reads, in part:
Perhaps the most defining feature of 67 is that it’s impossible to define. It’s meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical.
Will enough people attempt Carrie Underwood’s strategy of phasing out the term? Will something different and even more nonsensical take its place? I certainly can’t say, but I can tune in to see American Idol try to find the next music superstar who can impart their own will on pop culture. Season 24 kicks off at 8 p.m. ET Monday, January 26 on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.
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