It's really hard to upstage Carrie Underwood. Unless you are 9-year-old Savannah Dahan.
The Maryland fourth grader, who is deaf, went viral in March for her incredible interpretation of Underwood's "The Champion" in American Sign Language.
The video was shared and viewed millions of times all over the internet. And it's clear why – we dare you to watch it and not feel empowered.
Country star Underwood certainly was, so much so that she reached out to Savannah on Twitter and and asked to meet her, Savannah's dad, Richard, told USA TODAY through an ASL interpreter.
The family got to be front row at Underwood's concert Friday night in Washington and proud dad Dahan said his daughter "kind of took the spotlight of Carrie's show."
"Even the interpreter was fascinated with Savannah and how she was able to sign that song," he said.
Backstage, Underwood asked Savannah if she wanted to sign a song with her, and of course, Savannah said "yes!" Dahan said.
Underwood shared the performance on her Instagram page Sunday.
In another video from Underwood's Instagram, you can see the singer sign to Savannah from on stage: "I love you, beautiful girl."
"It was a very exciting moment for all of us," Dahan said.
'She signs music all the time'
Savannah was born with "moderate to severe hearing loss," Dahan, who is also deaf, shared.
Savannah's mother, Jennifer, and two sisters, Penelope, 4, and Nathalie, 2, are deaf as well.
"Savannah started signing from the time she was born," Dahan said. "That was her first language at home, and she has always enjoyed signing music to her mom in the car, you know, everywhere. She signs music all the time."
He said that in March, Savannah begged him to take a video of her signing Underwood's "The Champion." He posted the video to Facebook just for friends. After some coaxing, he made the post public. Overnight, "it just went totally viral," he said.
Dahan said he didn't realize just how good his daughter was until he took that video.
"I saw the TV behind her match the sentence perfectly. The emotion matched. The intensity was spot on," he shared.
Savannah is using her platform for good
Dahan explained that there are varying levels of deafness. With hearing aids, Savannah can hear at a moderate level. He said her ability to interpret songs with such emotion is truly remarkable for her age. She studies the songs' lyrics, so she can get the timing right, he said.
"She can convey that emotion and the intensity of the music that matches her expression with her body language, and her facial expression matches the tone," he said.
Savannah continues to share her talents on social media, creating and posting videos of her moving ASL to music.
Her dad said she hopes to use her newfound platform to "show the world how beautiful ASL is" and, because of her love of marine animals, to spread awareness of conservation.
She hopes to keep performing.
"I asked her, 'Why do you have so much expression?' " Dahan said. "She said, 'No no, that's just how the singer's voice sounds.' "
"I didn't know that," Dahan said.
We all can sure see it now.
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October 07, 2019 at 11:00PM
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Carrie Underwood upstaged by girl's emotional sign language, and it's the best ever - USA TODAY
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