Carrie Underwood says the new album her fans have been waiting for isn’t too far away—in fact, she has completed recording about half of it.Carrie checked in with Ryan Seacrest for his American Top 40 radio show, saying, “I’ve been writing quite a bit and [have] been in the studio a bit. I have about half an album done right now and [I am] trying to fill in the gaps and figure out what pieces of the puzzle are missing,” says Carrie. “It’s a fun time right now figuring it all out.”

Unfortunately, the singer says she likely won’t debut any of that new music during the upcoming iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on Sept. 23-24. “It’s a little too early to debut anything,” she says. “I just want to make sure it’s all right before I let it go. I think everyone who's going to be there is getting an amazing show.”

So what else will Carrie be doing once she hits Las Vegas? “I’m a regular at the Thunder from Down Under,” she jokes. Growing serious, Carrie admits, “I’ll gamble a little bit, but there's a certain point when it’s like, ‘This is [worth] a pair of shoes or a nice outfit or something.’ I could actually have something to show for this, because I always lose.”