Christian music superstar Lauren Daigle says she feels “vindicated” to be performing “America the Beautiful” in New Orleans at Super Bowl LIX a little over four years after the New Orleans mayor criticized her for participating in an outdoor worship gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Do you feel vindicated? Do you think it’s God’s hand that all these years later…you’re on the biggest stage in New Orleans, representing the city, your state?” Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo asked Daigle during an interview on his new podcast, “Arroyo Grande.”
Daigle nodded and said, “Yes. It was powerful to see all of the people that came around me during that time…you were one of them. The attorney general’s office, the lieutenant governor’s office, so many people came around and said [to the mayor], ‘Hey, this is wrong. What you are doing is wrong.’”
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Lauren Daigle is a record-setting, Grammy Award-winning Christian artist and Louisiana native. She will perform “America the Beautiful” with accomplished jazz musician and Grammy Award-winner Trombone Shorty (Troy Andrews) during the Super Bowl pregame show on Sunday, Feb. 9.
Andrews, who grew up in New Orleans, and Daigle have previously collaborated on each other’s work, and it was Andrews who gave Daigle the opportunity to perform at football’s biggest game.
“It was a couple behind-the-scenes things,” Daigle told NOLA.com. “Trombone Shorty got the opportunity to sing and play ‘America the Beautiful.’ And he said, ‘I’d love to play it, but I have someone else in mind to sing it. I would really love it if Lauren sang on this.’”
When Andrews invited her, Daigle said she was “shocked” at his “generosity” and the “opportunity” he was giving her. “That just goes to show the beauty of the music scene in New Orleans,” said Daigle. “What I love so much is that it’s so communal. People are looking out for each other.”
When she realized she was going to perform the song at the Super Bowl, Daigle started asking herself a number of questions, including how she can perform the song in a way that shows people the beauty of the United States.
“Where will it cut through to this generation?” she asked. “The age that we’re 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?”
