I think most of America had a very different interpretation of how it went. Last Monday, Carrie Underwood took the stage at the inauguration of President Trump to sing "America The Beautiful," which didn't exactly go off without a hitch, though she handled it with grace and delivered a stunning a capella performance that received overwhelmingly positive reviews from people on both sides of the political aisle. Her initial decision to be there was of course met with a ton of backlash from some fans who didn’t like the fact that she was lending her talents to a President they don’t like or didn’t vote for, but Carrie, who has generally been pretty quiet on politics, responded with class, saying in a simple statement that she was “honored” to be asked to perform for the President and felt humbled to “answer the call” in an effort to display unity: “I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event. I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future.” Carrie notably didn’t publicly endorse anyone in the 2024 presidential election, or reveal who she voted for. We haven't heard anything from her at all since the performance, though she was seen at some of the luncheons and other inauguration events following her performance. It's kind of strange that the American Idol judge has kept so quiet, like I said, especially considering how widely well-received it was. Apparently though, according to an anonymous source who spoke with the U.S. Sun (so take this with a grain of salt, so to speak), Carrie is "frustrated" with how it all went, which is understandable if true, because it was all apparently pitched to her a bit differently than how it ultimately went, obviously including the no music fiasco. Also, though, just days before the inauguration took place, it was moved inside due to freezing temperatures, so she initially thought she'd be singing outside, which changed the entire day for everyone involved. The source claims that Carrie's frustrations also had to do with the fact that she had to significantly decrease her guest list once the inauguration was moved inside to the Capitol building... and no, she didn't throw a "hissy fit" afterwards like some rumors online have suggested: "Her keeping quiet is an indicator things did not go well for her, not how she wanted. Reports of her having a ‘hissy fit’ isn’t true though, she isn’t a toddler but she was and is frustrated. How the performance was pitched to her and how it ended up going were two very different experiences. Most of that had to do with the event being moved indoors which decreased the guest list and how many people she could bring with her - something she was not happy about." They added that Carrie is still "proud" of herself for how she handled everything, though they also claim that she's now "second-guessing" if it was worth it to agree to performing there in the first place, because many of her "fans" and others, mostly in the media, were upset by it and she wants to keep her family private: “She’s proud of herself for how she handled such a chaotic situation but I think she’s second-guessing this whole thing and wondering if it was worth it. For both herself and her family who she’s fiercely protective of and tries to keep more private." Carrie is famously extremely private when it comes to her family, notably her two young children Isiah and Jacob, both of whom she keeps completely off of social media and you rarely see in public. I think that's the smart way to do it, and it's something many celebrity parents have started doing, including her fellow country star Luke Combs, who keeps his kids very much out of the spotlight as well. I can understand Carrie's line of thinking in many ways, especially when it comes to her family and the scrutiny she's received. For someone who keeps their family out of the spotlight, to finally put them in the spotlight, in a tense political situation, only to have some logistical issues with who could attend and who couldn't... the frustration is totally understandable. Nevertheless, I think she should be very proud of herself and her historic performance, especially considering the circumstances of the event. I mean, this wasn’t some regular old Thursday night tour stop. Many other Americans across the country, and people all over the world, seemed to agree and went back into the extensive Carrie Underwood catalog, because she had EIGHT albums in the Top 100 of the iTunes country albums chart last week. Two of them were in the top two spots, and a third was at #9. The rest filled in throughout the other 100 spots. She should be extremely proud of herself, because her country certainly is: Carrie crushed it. ?? pic.twitter.com/7C3Db9Lv4M — Whiskey Riff (@WhiskeyRiff) January 20, 2025