Donald Trump may be the star of the show on inauguration day, but he will not be the only one in the limelight.
The country singer Carrie Underwood will perform America the Beautiful on the steps of the US Capitol as Trump is sworn in for a second term as president on January 20. Underwood, 41, whose career was launched by winning American Idol in 2005, has won eight Grammy Awards and sold more than 85 million albums. She will perform shortly before Trump takes the oath of office on the western steps of the Capitol.
She said she was “humbled to answer the call” and urged all Americans to “come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future”.
The song, whose lyrics were first published in 1895, was performed by Jennifer Lopez at Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. She segued into the melody after singing This Land is Your Land by the folk singer Woody Guthrie.
Carrie Underwood will be a judge on the new season of American Idol
AP
As well as Underwood, the Village People will perform at inauguration celebrations. The band’s disco hits YMCA and Macho Man became unlikely anthems on Trump’s campaign trail and spawned a signature dance by the president-elect.
Victor Willis, the Village People’s frontman, confirmed on social media that they would appear at several parties in Washington.
Willis, 73, admitted that the group’s preferred candidate in the US election lost, but said: “Music is to be performed without regard to politics.”
The Village People in their heyday and in 2023, below
MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
TOMMASO BODDI/GETTY IMAGES
“Our song YMCA is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost,” Willis wrote on Facebook. “Therefore, we believe it’s now time to bring the country together with music.”
The decision marks a U-turn for the group, who called on Trump to stop playing their music during his first term as president in 2020. When Trump called on police to crack down on Black Lives Matter protests near the White House amid rising racial tensions that summer, Willis said he could “no longer look the other way”.
In 2023, the group threatened to sue Trump after a Village People cover band performed at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Video emerged of Trump dancing to Macho Man as a group dressed like the Village People performed behind.
YMCA and Macho Man remained staples on the playlist at Trump rallies during his march back to the White House last year.
His rigid, jerky onstage dance to YMCA went viral on social media and has been imitated by sports stars and celebrities since his election victory. He and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who helped bankroll the Republican campaign, were spotted performing the “Trump dance” to the Village People at the president-elect’s new year’s eve party at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
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YMCA’s heavy rotation at Trump campaign events propelled the 1978 hit back into the charts more than 40 years after its release. The song climbed the Billboard charts as election day approached and hit the No 1 spot the week after Trump’s victory.
In a social media post last month Willis said he had received hundreds of complaints about Trump adopting his music, but admitted that the band had “benefited greatly” from the president-elect. He added that Trump “seems to genuinely like YMCA and he’s having a lot of fun with it”.
