Brandi Carlile on the Emotional Weight of Performing ‘America the Beautiful’ at Super Bowl LX

Tonight, Brandi Carlile will take the stage to deliver a performance of “America the Beautiful” ahead of Super Bowl LX, with an estimated audience of over 125 million watching from across the country.

Ahead of her performance, Carlile spoke with Variety about the opportunity to perform during the big game, how she’s feeling performing “America the Beautiful” for the first time, and what it means to take the stage as a member of the queer community.

The Washington native told Variety her performance will be “a melodically centered version, instead of a rhythmically centered version” and noted that it’s actually her first time singing the song. She has, however, performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” previously, including at a Seattle Seahawks game a little over a decade ago, while Charlie Puth is set to sing the national anthem tonight.

“I sang ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ a couple of times in high school, and I sang it for the Seattle Storm a couple of times early on when I was really young, and then I sang it once for the Seahawks in one really, really big game [in 2015]. That is a really, really hard song. So I’ve sung that one before,” she explained.

“But I’ve never sung ‘America the Beautiful.’ I’ve been hearing it my whole life, but I do remember when I first sort of clocked it. I was invited to the White House when Obama was president to sing on the lawn on the 4th of July, and Brandon Flowers [frontman of the Killers] sang it. I just remember hearing it that way, as a modern song, and I was like, ‘Oh, that is a beautiful song’ — beautiful melodically, and lyrically beautiful. Other than that, my exposure to it has been that the definitive versions of the song have been Ray Charles and Whitney Houston, and those versions can’t be touched.”

When Variety asked the 11-time GRAMMY winner about performing the song during “a time of trouble and division,” she shared her hope for the country: “And I think if we’re gonna save this country as a people, we have to be reminded on some level that deep down we love it.”

Reflecting on the personal and cultural significance of performing on such a massive platform, Carlile proudly shared: “And I have my own moral code, my own moral imperative, that I have to answer to at the end of the day, as a wife and mother, and I believe in my ability and responsibility to do this, and that’s why I’m here. And the throughline to being queer and being a representative of a marginalized community and being put on the largest stage in America to acknowledge the fraught and tender hope that this country is based on, it’s something you don’t say no to. You do it.” 

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Plus, this is even more meaningful to Carlile, who is a longtime fan of the Seattle Seahawks. She won’t be allowed to show support for hear team on the outside, but promised, “I’ll have a Seahawks jersey on in my heart.”  

“You know, people say to me, ‘Oh, isn’t it complicated and difficult to get involved in something like the Super Bowl in these times?’ And there’s a lot of validity to that observation. I don’t disagree. But it does get a little easier when it’s your team,” she continued with a laugh. “You’d be really surprised, right?”

Brandi Carlile’s performance of “America the Beautiful” will air ahead of Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Game day festivities kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET as the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots. All the action will air Sunday, February 8, at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, and Universo.