Former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood is all set to perform at the Inauguration Day ceremony on January 20 for Republican President-elect candidate Donald Trump’s 2nd term.
The country singer, 41, is expected to sing “America the Beautiful” at the event, where she is expected to perform alongside the Armed Forces Choir and the United States Naval Academy Glee Club.
“I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future,” she was quoted as telling
It has been confirmed by the Presidential Inaugural Committee to The Independent that Underwood will be performing at the event – the plan is for her to perform after Vice President JD Vance takes his Oath of Office and before Trump takes the Presidential Oath of Office.
While she has been quoted as saying to People that she ‘loves the US and is ‘honoured’ to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration “and to be a small part of this historic event,” this comes as a surprise to many because of her persistent stance that she doesn’t want to be “pinned politically”.
“I try to stay far out of politics, if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins,” Underwood was found telling The Guardian in 2019. “It’s crazy. Everybody tries to sum everything up and put a bow on it, like it’s black and white. And it’s not like that.”
Underwood also did not publicly endorse any candidate ahead of the 2024 election.
Carrie Underwood at the Songwriters Hall Of Fame Gala in New York in June 2024 (Joy Malone/Getty Images)
While the Grammy winner has claimed neutrality on politics, that did not stop her from expressing her views on supposed political issues through songs like “The Bullet” – which her detractors said was a political statement about gun control.
“You can blame it on hate or blame it on guns / But mamas ain’t supposed to bury their sons,” she sings in the first verse. “Left a hole in her heart and it still ain’t done / The bullet keeps on goin.’ “
However, Underwood maintained that the song “was more about the lives that were changed by something terrible happening”.
What, however, does leave some questions open is the fact that her decision to perform at Trump’s Inauguration Day comes around 7 years after she and fellow country star Brad Paisley poked fun at Trump at the 2017 Country Music Association Awards together.
Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood (Rick Diamond/Getty Images)
During the show, the cohosts performed a parody of Underwood’s hit song “Before He Cheats,” replacing the signature chorus with “before he tweets.”
“Right now, he’s probably in his PJs, reaching for his cellphone… he’s probably asking Siri, ‘How in the hell do you spell Pocahontas?’” sang Paisley.
“And it’s fun to watch, yeah, that’s for sure / ’Til little Rocket Man starts a nuclear war,” the duo sang onstage at the CMAs. “Maybe next time, he’ll think before he tweets.”
Underwood rose to fame after winning American Idol in 2005.
