At first, it seemed like Carrie Underwood might have been winking at Donald Trump, but that’s not right.
The new president was to the singer’s right, but he was seated slightly behind her. Whoever Underwood winked at was about 60 degrees to her right.
Did she wink at her husband, Mike? Her son? Maybe Underwood was winking at someone involved with the messy production of the inauguration?
- Carrie Underwood sang “America the Beautiful” after President Trump’s inauguration speech on Monday (Jan. 20).
- The performance was originally scheduled to take place just before he took the oath of office.
- Some sort of technical issue forced an awkward one-minute delay, after which Underwood just sang a cappella.
Related: Here’s Why Donald Trump Pulled Carrie Underwood Close After Her Inauguration Performance
I watched video of the wink more times than I care to admit and came to a surprising conclusion.
But first — is anyone else surprised that Carrie Underwood is a winker? I’ve always tied winking to cute old men or over-confident, kinda cringey young men — the kind who tell the waitress to stick a finger in their coffee to sweeten it up.
Sure, women wink. I bet Betty White used to wink. Brenda Lee seems like the kind of woman who’d wink, too. It takes a certain comedic resume, or at least some established playfulness to pull off a public wink. Carrie is a lot of great things, but no one has ever said she’s “silly.”
That’s why I watched this video so many times — it all just seemed so out of character, until I remembered that Carrie Underwood has winked before.
Flashback to the 2020 CMA Awards to find Underwood winking as cameras panned to her for a reaction to losing Entertainer of the Year to Eric Church. At the time, we guessed she was sending a message to someone (maybe even angry fans) that all was well.
This second wink changes everything. Both winks came during moments of stress.
Put yourself in her shoes at the inauguration. I’ve always thought she takes an athlete’s mentality to performing, meaning that show time feels like game time. This time, she had to wait, and wait, and wait …
Of course, she can’t show her displeasure or irritation, because that’s all anyone would talk about. So, she rocked back and forth and smiled to everyone in the room.
And then, she winked.
Someone may have been in her direct line of sight, but I think Carrie was winking for her own comfort. She was letting herself know everything would be fine, and it was. It really was!
This obstacle gave her a chance to do something even better than we could have imagined. Democrats and Republicans joined her to sing “America the Beautiful” together, making a singular moment of unity on a day that’s typically been anything but over the last two decades.
20 Things Carrie Underwood Has Done Since Winning ‘American Idol’
Carrie Underwood has been, well, busy since winning Season 4 of American Idol in 2005. Since the confetti fell, the country singer has released nine albums and embarked on seven tours. She’s also tried her hand at acting and launched a handful of businesses.
Over the years she’s become one of the biggest success stories to come out of the show, winning countless awards and amassing a staggering net worth of over $100 million.
Keep scrolling to see 20 things Underwood has done since her time on the reality singing competition.
PICTURES: See Inside Carrie Underwood’s Breathtaking Nashville Mansion
Carrie Underwood and her husband, Mike Fisher, owned a 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom, 2-half-bathroom home in an affluent Nashville suburb called Brentwood. The 7,000-square-foot mansion features a wet bar, fitness center and tennis court, as well as a four-car garage, walk-out basement with heated marble floors and extra appliances, including a sub-zero fridge and wine fridge. That house is where Underwood suffered a devastating fall in 2017.
The couple sold the luxurious home for $1,410,000 in March of 2019, after they moved into the massive dream home that they had spent several years building from scratch.
Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker