Carrie Underwood Marks 13th Season on Sunday Night Football with New High-Energy Opening
See the brand-new performance video.
Carrie Underwood, Sunday Night Football 2025
Carrie Underwood returned to Sunday Night Football this weekend, kicking off her 13th season as the voice of the show’s iconic opening.
Her performance of “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” premiered ahead of the Ravens-Bills playoff rematch during the SNF season opener on NBC and Peacock.
The high-energy opening featured a brand-new video showing Underwood backstage, stepping into an elevator, and making a grand entrance to the stage. Surrounded by cheerleaders and background performers, she strutted confidently as flashing lights, cityscapes, and game-day footage of the Ravens and Bills were interwoven throughout the sequence.
According to The New York Times, Underwood recorded the vocals for the new opening over the summer on a rainy day in a Nashville studio. She laid down 80 different variations of the song, each with subtle lyric changes. For instance, one version shortened “Jacksonville Jaguars” to “Jags,” while another added “the” before “Dolphins” when referencing the Miami Dolphins.
“It’s just all about flow and the rest of the sentence,” Underwood explained. “You get in there and sometimes you’ll sing something and it sounded clunky, and then somebody will be like, ‘Why don’t you switch the names or switch the order?’”
Underwood shot the new Sunday Night Football opening at The Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas, the same venue where she made history with her record-breaking residency, REFLECTION. Now in its third year and selling out shows through April 2025, it stands as the longest-running Las Vegas residency by a solo female country artist.
“For the 20th season of SNF, we wanted to set the tone for the night by reimagining the anthem sound in a way that plays to Carrie’s powerhouse vocals, while visually creating a seamless blend of stylized shots and behind-the-scenes moments evoking the national roadshow that is Sunday Night Football, week after week in the fall,” Tripp Dixon, creative director of the SNF show open for each of the past 13 years, shared.
“We had a blast shooting the new opening at The Resorts World Theatre again,” Underwood said. “As always, Tripp and the creative team continue to raise the bar, bringing the high energy and stunning visuals that the Sunday Night Football audience has come to expect year after year. I can’t wait for the world to see it!”
Underwood will return to Sunday Night Football next week.
Lauren Jo Black, a University of Central Florida graduate, has immersed herself in the world of country music for over 15 years. In 2008, she co-founded CountryMusicIsLove, eventually selling it to a major record label in 2015. Following the rebranding of the website to Sounds Like Nashville, Black served as Editor-in-Chief for two and a half years. Currently, she assumes the role of Editor-in-Chief at Country Now and oversees Country Now’s content and digital footprint. Her extensive experience also encompasses her previous role as a Country Music Expert Writer for Answers.com and her work being featured on Forbes.com. She’s been spotlighted among Country Aircheck’s Women of Influence and received the 2012 Rising Star Award from the University of Central Florida. Black also spent time in front of the camera as host of Country Now Live, which brought live music directly to fans in 2021 when the majority of concerts were halted due to the pandemic. During this time, she hosted 24 weeks of live concerts via Country Now Live on Twitch with special guests such as Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Jordan Davis, Brett Young, and Jon Pardi. Over the course of her career, she has had the privilege of conducting interviews with some of the industry’s most prominent stars, including Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, and many others. Lauren Jo Black is a longtime member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
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