One year into Donald Trump‘s first presidential term, many fans heard Carrie Underwood‘s song “Love Wins” as a rebuke of ugly, divisive politics. Co-written by Underwood, the single builds toward a cathartic release with each verse, the first of which asks: “Politics and prejudice/How the hell’d it ever come to this?” It’s the same question Underwood’s queer fans are asking since the country musician has accepted an invitation to perform at Trump’s upcoming inauguration.
“Carrie Underwood was the start of my gay awakening,” wrote X (formerly Twitter) user Kitty Armistead, who began listening to the singer when they were 17. “She was one of the first mainstream country stars to say she supported marriage equality. I knew that meant a lot to me, but I didn’t realize how much until now.” This cohort of Underwood fans have spent more than a decade believing the singer supported them because she told them she did. Now, they’re in the midst of unraveling what it means to be suddenly shocked into a reality that doesn’t align with their own.
There’s often an element of projection that plays a role in perception within popular fandom. When an artist’s music has allowed their audience to feel seen and understood, those fans will continue to view their actions through that lens. The phrase “Love Wins” became synonymous with the LBGTQ+ community following the legalization of same-sex marriage by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2015. So when Underwood released her song of the same name three years later, the inherent connection was already established.
It’s not an explicit championing of the queer community — Underwood’s lyrics to “Love Wins” are more direct about gun violence in the first verse — but it was welcomed as such. And her actions, at the time, seemed to be aligned with the perception her audience had of her. In 2012, the singer received intense backlash from American conservatives for her support of marriage equality. She stood by her stance. “I don’t know what it’s like to be told I can’t marry somebody I love, and want to marry,” she told the Independent. “I can’t imagine how that must feel.” It was not an insignificant feat to have one of country music’s biggest stars advocate for a freedom she already had.
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“I have been a fan of @carrieunderwood for 20 years since I was 8 years old,” another X user wrote. “I took on a drag persona Calia named after a brand she established and have supported every venture she’s ever been part of, but as a queer person I am deeply hurt for her choice. Her music was a guide, advice, encouragement, and my way to self soothe in dark times. And I truly appreciated her unaffiliated ideologies, but it seems as though the tides have turned the last few years. Now I just am struggling with this news and I feel beside myself.”
When Underwood issued a statement about agreeing to perform at the Jan. 20 inauguration, she stated: “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.” The criticism came swiftly, though Whoopi Goldberg defended the singer on The View, saying: “If I believe I have the right to make up my mind to go perform some place, I believe they have the same right.” (She also said she won’t be watching, anyway.)
Underwood’s statement evokes similar sentiments expressed in “Love Wins” — just not the ones that would keep her LGBTQ+ fans on her side. It connects back to the call for unity she issued on the song, lamenting: “When everybody’s gotta pick a side/It don’t matter if you’re wrong or right.” For them, it absolutely does matter — and she chose the wrong side. There is no unifying force between the members of a consistently targeted community and those who oppose their right to exist.
Underwood’s performance of “America the Beautiful” at the inauguration will take place right after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh administers the Vice Presidential Oath of Office to JD Vance. When Trump nominated Kavanaugh in 2018, LGBTQ Americans anticipated having to return to the battlefield for a fight they believed they already won. At the time, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said: “With the world watching, Kavanaugh refused to tell LGBTQ Americans that we deserve equal protections under the law and Congress should take action before appointing him to a lifetime position where he will no doubt work to undermine our basic rights to liberty and justice.”
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LGBTQ policies have been relentlessly targeted by Republicans in the years since. Trump’s campaign spent millions spreading lies about the trans community during election season. Even before he was re-elected, the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation began its push toward limiting workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans by attempting to block anti-discriminatory actions by the Biden administration. As Underwood urges people to “come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future,” it’s essential she understand what that future looks like. Where she sees optimism, many others see fear. They can’t be expected to wear the same rose-colored glasses.
“I don’t want people to vote for somebody because I told them to,” Underwood told Rolling Stone in 2016. “I want them to find out about things that they are passionate about and what’s important to them and look at different candidates and policies. And try to make their own decisions on that. That’s where I stand, and I go and cast my vote like everybody else.” She has not publicly addressed the 2024 presidential election beyond joining the inauguration lineup.
Fan accounts dedicated to Underwood have continued to voice their disappointment in her decision. “While I will always love and support @carrieunderwood, this account will not be covering her upcoming appearance at Donald Trump’s inauguration nor any other comments/appearances she makes in support of this convicted felon,” the Carrie Underwood UK account shared with its 14,000 followers on X.
Other social media users have encouraged listeners who are removing Underwood from their playlists to tune into other artists with more outspoken track records. “If you need another female country artist that actually gives a shit about society and women, I present to you Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris,” one X post read. “Time and time again they explicitly support what’s right and publicly reject racist, homophobic BS.”
In September 2023, Morris — who has been a vocal fan of Underwood for years — announced plans to step away from the business of country music. “After the Trump years, people’s biases were on full display,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “It just revealed who people really were and that they were proud to be misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic. All these things were being celebrated, and it was weirdly dovetailing with this hyper-masculine branch of country music.”
Morris doesn’t consider herself to be a political artist. Underwood doesn’t either. In 2019, she told the Guardian that she tries “to stay far out of politics if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins.” Needless to say, a presidential inauguration isn’t exactly far away from politics. This is where the real divide occurs: the space in which real-life people are distilled to winners and losers in a political game others pretend to have no stakes in for the sake of self-preservation.
“I don’t think that biting the hand that fed you is a real thing. It’s kind of a fallacy at this point, with all this fear-mongering about getting Dixie Chick-ed and whatnot,” Morris added. “Country music is a business, but it gets sold, particularly to young writers and artists who come up within it, as almost a god. It kind of feels like indoctrination. If you truly love this type of music and you start to see problems arise, it needs to be criticized. Anything this popular should be scrutinized if we want to see progress.”
