A little over four years ago, Lauren Daigle went home to Lafayette, Louisiana, crawled into her parents’ bed and pulled the covers over her head.
As the Christian singer explained during a recent podcast appearance, that was her response to a letter from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell that called for her to be removed from the “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” lineup in 2020 because of her participation in a rally that protested COVID-19 restrictions placed on houses of worship.
“She cannot be allowed to represent New Orleans,” Cantrell wrote in the letter criticizing Daigle for singing at the controversial rally, according to Religion News Service.
Now, in somewhat of a full-circle moment, Daigle is representing New Orleans on one of the largest stages: the Super Bowl.
On Sunday, the “You Say” singer will perform “America the Beautiful” ahead of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, which takes place at New Orleans' Superdome.
“To get this moment years later, I would say for anybody watching that has had their reputations smeared in any sort of way and they are just waiting for the moment of vindication, sometimes it only takes five years,” Daigle told the “Arroyo Grande” podcast, per Fox News.
Here’s a look at how Daigle landed at the Super Bowl — and what’s next in the two-time Grammy winner’s career.
A full-circle moment
As Daigle prepares to sing at the Super Bowl, she’s been reflecting on the controversy that hit her career roughly nine months into the pandemic.
She has previously said she was not formally a part of the “Let Us Worship” rally held by her friend, Christian singer and worship leader Sean Feucht.
She had been riding her bike nearby and was then invited to sing, the Christian Post reported at the time.
About a month later, Daigle was reportedly in talks to perform at “Dick Clark’s Rockin' New Year’s Eve” — though she has said she was never officially confirmed, as the Deseret News reported — when the letter from Cantrell criticized her involvement in the rally and called for her to be removed as a performer.
“There’s no amount of public ridicule that is fun,” Daigle told the “Arroyo Grande” podcast, per Fox News.
Now, a few years after the controversy, Daigle and other Louisiana natives are bringing music with some New Orleans flair to the Super Bowl. The game comes a little over a month after a man intentionally drove a truck into a crowd in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 30, as the Deseret News reported.
“It’s going to be a beautiful opportunity for us to showcase what New Orleans represents, and the culture, and the beauty of unity in music,” Daigle told NOLA.com. “New Orleans has seen some trying times recently. To be able to offer a sound of hope for people in this city, to sing out over the city and from the city into the rest of the world, is going to be one of my favorite things, maybe ever.”
How Lauren Daigle ended up at the Super Bowl
Daigle’s invitation to the Super Bowl came through her friend and fellow musician, jazz powerhouse Trombone Shorty.
When Trombone Shorty initially received an invitation to play and sing “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl, his response was that he’d play it — but he had someone else in mind to sing it, Daigle told NOLA.com.
“He had a vision, so he invited me. I was shocked,” the singer told NOLA.com. “I said, ‘Do you understand the opportunity you gave me? Do you know what your generosity has given me?’ That just goes to show the beauty of the music scene in New Orleans. What I love so much is that it’s so communal. People are looking out for each other.”
Daigle has long praised the collaborative music scene that is present throughout Louisiana.
“It’s not this one-dimensional music scene,” Daigle told the Deseret News in a 2020 interview. “I would see all these different ages and different ethnicities. Everybody was sharing the stage together, and it was this beautiful communal experience, a beautiful exchange of sounds and sentiments.”
Trombone Shorty extending an invitation to her embodies the spirit of New Orleans, she said — and it’s a moment she’s not taking lightly.
“To sing those beautiful words about our country and to sing them for so many people who love this country and love the sport of football. ... It’s going to be a blast,” Daigle told NOLA.com.
What to expect from Daigle’s ‘America the Beautiful’ performance
Trombone Shorty’s arrangement of “America the Beautiful” brings some Louisiana flair to the patriotic number, Daigle said on the “Arroyo Grande” podcast.
“When we rehearsed ‘America the Beautiful,’ we worked on the song maybe 15 or 20 minutes, but we talked for over two hours, just hanging out in his studio,” Daigle told NOLA.com. “That’s a good sign. That’s what you want to pour into a performance like (the Super Bowl). You want the love and grit to be expressed on a stage of this caliber.”
The singer, who is one of the rare contemporary Christian artists whose music has managed to achieve mainstream success, also said her faith will influence her performance.
“’God shed His grace on me,' that line, it just really gripped me to the core in a way,” she told the “Arroyo Grande” podcast, per Fox News.
“How will it cut through to this generation, the age that we are living in right now, the political climate that we’re living in right now?” she continued. “How can I use this song to cut through to people who might be jaded toward our country or might not love what we have in this country or what we’ve built in this country?”
Seven-time Grammy winner Jon Batiste, who is also from Louisiana and was the subject of the recent documentary “American Symphony,” will perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl, and R&B singer and New Orleans native Ledisi will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
What’s next for Lauren Daigle?
Daigle released a self-titled album in 2023, and recently concluded a tour — which came to the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah, last year. She has a handful of concert dates lined up (so far) for 2025.
“I’ve started writing new songs,” she told NOLA.com. “I can definitely see having another record out in the next couple years.”
While the singer said she has other passions she’s interested in pursuing — including expanding her foundation, “The Price Fund" — she has said that music will always be part of her life.
“I love so much getting to perform in front of people, getting to bring messages of hope to people, getting to see people genuinely impacted,” she previously told the Deseret News. “That’s something that I want to be a part of forever.”