Carrie Underwood has addressed her decision to perform at President-elect Donald Trump‘s inauguration.
In a statement shared on Monday, Jan. 13, the country star, 41, explained her reasoning for playing during the ceremony on Monday, Jan. 20.
“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,” the American Idol winner said in a statement to PEOPLE. “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.”
On Monday, Jan. 13, a Presidential Inaugural Committee spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE that Underwood is set to perform at the inauguration where Trump, 78, will be sworn in as the next president of the United States.
Over the years, the “Before He Cheats” musician has kept her political views private.
In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, the Grammy winner said she felt that “more people try to pin me places politically.”
“I try to stay far out of politics if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins,” Underwood explained at the time. “It’s crazy. Everybody tries to sum everything up and put a bow on it, like it’s black and white. And it’s not like that.”
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Some fans thought her 2018 track “The Bullet” was a political statement.
“You can blame it on hate or blame it on guns / But mamas ain’t supposed to bury their sons,” she sings in the first verse. “Left a hole in her heart and it still ain’t done / The bullet keeps on goin.’ “
“Immediately people said, ‘Oh you have a song about gun control!’ It was more about the lives that were changed by something terrible happening,” Underwood told the outlet of the initial response. “And it does kind of bug me when people take a song, or take something I said and try to pigeonhole or force me to pick a side or something. It’s a discussion — a long discussion.”
Underwood’s participation in the inauguration comes more than seven years after she and fellow country star Brad Paisley poked fun at Trump while hosting the 2017 Country Music Association Awards together. During the show, the cohosts performed a parody of Underwood’s hit song “Before He Cheats,” replacing the signature chorus with “before he tweets.”
“And it’s fun to watch, yeah, that’s for sure / ’Til little Rocket Man starts a nuclear war,” the duo sang onstage at the CMAs. “Maybe next time, he’ll think before he tweets.”
