Superbowl LIX will take place on Sunday at Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans. Several years ago, Lauren Daigle, one of the performers who will sing at the event, clashed with the city’s mayor. During the pandemic, Democrat LaToya Cantrell called for her firing. Despite this, the Christian music star will perform ‘America the Beautiful’ to a packed crowd on Sunday.
In 2020, Daigle gave an unplanned performance at a protest against pandemic-era restrictions on churches. The rally, hosted by Christian singer Sean Feucht, attracted hundreds of unmasked attendees. Cantrell blasted Daigle for participating and demanded that an upcoming music festival remove the Louisiana native from the schedule. The Christian singer was friends with the organizer and just happened to be in the area. Documents confirmed Daigle was not scheduled to perform at the protest
At the time, she said she was “disappointed that my spontaneous participation has become part of the political discourse, and I’m saddened by the divisive agendas of these times.” Cantrell crudely referred to the singer as ” A Weapon to society.” The Christian singer described her initial reaction, went home to Lafayette, and I got in my parents’ bed and I pulled the covers over my head as an adult. I was like, ‘Gosh, here we are again.’ Because now there’s no amount of public ridicule that is fun.”
She views her performance at the Superbowl as vindication. “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,” she said. Looking back on the controversy, she thinks it was ultimately a positive influence on her.
“What I learned is that when people need an element of hope, coming together is one of the most beautiful things,” she said. “It is one of the most incredible rights that we have in this country. It is. And I think to take that away from people is so disheartening, especially in a time like that,” she explained. She also recounted how excited she was to be invited to perform at the Super Bowl.
“I picked up the phone, and there was a little bit of, ‘Is this real? Is this actually going to happen? Is it real?’ I want to know that it’s real,” she remembered. “And then it became a ‘Yeah, it was real.’ It was a real call. And I was tickled.” She says that her version of the song will pay tribute to both her home state of Luisana and her deep Christian faith.
“He said, ‘You know, I wanted to give a hat tip to New Orleans because we’re here. But I also know you’re from Lafayette. So, I wanted to give a hat tip to Lafayette.’ So, he came up with this arrangement that rhythmically suits both places,'” she said, explaining the writing process. “I immediately tried to think … how does it feel the most human in my voice?”
Watch Lauren Daigle Here:
Grammy winner @Lauren_Daigle will open #SuperBowlLIX this weekend. On a new ARROYO GRANDE she recalls 2020, when she sang outdoors and the Mayor of New Orleans claimed she had violated her Covid rules. The mayor cancelled the singer’s planned national performance. Now Daigle is… pic.twitter.com/v2SwgiZF1v
— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) February 5, 2025
“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? 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?” she concluded. Her performance will be one of the most viewed musical renditions of the year.
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