In the minutes leading up to the Super Bowl LX showdown between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, an 11-time Grammy winner born and raised in the Seattle area will step onto the field to perform “America the Beautiful” — an opportunity she’s not taking lightly.
Who is performing ‘America the Beautiful’ at Super Bowl LX?
Brandi Carlile, a folk/country/rock singer-songwriter who broke through in 2007 with her hit “The Story,” will perform “America the Beautiful” on Sunday.
“I’m terrified,” she recently told Entertainment Tonight. ”I’m beyond honored. I believe ‘America the Beautiful’ is one of the finest pieces of folk music to come out of the United States. I can stand behind the lyrics, and I believe in that song with my whole heart."
Carlile, who has eight solo albums under her belt, collaborated with Elton John last year on “Who Believes in Angels?,” which was nominated for best traditional pop vocal album at the Grammys earlier this month.
The musician is also a longtime friend of the legendary Joni Mitchell, and a few years ago facilitated the singer’s first public performance since suffering a brain aneurysm, as the Deseret News reported.
Carlile also played a part in the resurgence of country star Tanya Tucker, helping to produce the 2019 album “While I’m Livin’” that earned Tucker her first two Grammy Awards, per Deseret News.
Carlile released her eighth solo album, “Returning to Myself,” last fall and will soon head out on a tour that visits Salt Lake City’s the Delta Center on Feb. 24.
What Brandi Carlile said about performing ‘America the Beautiful’
For performing at big events like the Super Bowl, it’s not unusual to have prerecorded backing tracks for both vocals and instruments.
But Carlile doesn’t have any interest in that.
“The people deserve to have you live,” she recently told The Associated Press. “They need you to be taking the risk they’re taking every day when they walk out into those streets.
“You have to wake up and take a risk with yourself,” she later said. “That’s what makes performance beautiful.”
Carlile is familiar with large performance settings — she was part of Elton John’s last tour date at Dodger Stadium in 2022. While she’s aware of the sound delays and other technical issues that can come with performing in a venue like this, she’s been putting her focus more on the message of what she’ll be singing.
“I’ve been preparing for it more spiritually than technically,” Carlile told The Associated Press. “I want to sing that song as more of a prayer than a boast.”
The singer has high praise for “America the Beautiful,” and encouraged people to go and look up the complete lyrics of the anthem written by the poet and author Katherine Lee Bates.
“This is a song about a beautiful country that ebbs and flows in terms of hope, and it’s a work in progress, and this song believes that we can get there, and I believe we can get there,” she said during an interview with Seattle-based KOMO News. “And so for that reason, I can put my whole self into that song and believe what I’m saying.
“That’s my job on Sunday. The Super Bowl is a really unifying thing, it’s a big thing in this country, and all my friends and family are so excited for me getting to be an interpreter of this lyric and to be a part of this opportunity. ... This is heavy stuff, these are big days and we’re being given a high honor here, and what we do with it matters.”
What are some of Brandi Carlile’s best songs?
In honor of Carlile’s performance at the Super Bowl, here are 10 of her best songs:
‘The Story’ (2007)
‘Looking Out’ (2009)
‘Hallelujah’ cover with the Seattle Symphony (2010)
‘Keep Your Heart Young’ (2012)
‘The Eye’ (2014)
‘The Joke’ (2017)
‘The Mother’ (2018)
‘Sugartooth’ (2018)
‘Mama Werewolf’ (2021)
‘Returning to Myself’ (2025)