In 2007, country music took over NBC’s Sunday Night Football opening theme. Faith Hill replaced singer P!nk that year to sing “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night.” After several years of Hill leading the charge, superstar Carrie Underwood made her debut as the Sunday Night Football theme singer in 2013.
The “Cry Pretty” singer continued on the tradition of singing “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night,” which is a reworking of the Joan Jett song “I Hate Myself For Loving You.” After a few years of performing the Sunday night staple, the song changed to “Oh, Sunday Night,” a song inspired by Underwood’s duet with Miranda Lambert, “Somethin’ Bad.”
Like previous years, the song’s lyrics always changed a bit each week to be about the two teams that were gearing up to play each other that night.
The theme changed up again in 2018, with a new song called “Game On.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeJotdhLS5c
Despite the rave reviews of “Game On,” NBC changed the opening song for the 2019 season due to it being the 100th anniversary of the NFL. And for the centennial celebration every Sunday night, Underwood was joined by legendary singer Joan Jett.
In a press release it was revealed that Underwood will be returning for the 2020-2021 football season as the singer of the Sunday Night Football theme song, which will once again be “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night.” She recorded a new version in Nashville and the video was filmed without extras.
It’s also reported that football players will appear in the opening video via virtual cameos and fans will be included with videos they submitted.
“We are excited about this year’s new collaboration with Carrie, including scenes in the recording studio, and look forward to uniquely incorporating the game’s great fans,” Tripp Dixon, creative director of SNF‘s opening video, said in the press release.
Underwood herself also shared her excitement on Instagram, writing, “Been waiting all summer to announce this! Super excited to be back for another season!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEXXRR9FyLO/
The first Sunday Night Football opening will be shown before the Dallas Cowboys play the Los Angeles Rams on September 13. Until then, watch a previous Sunday Night Football opening below.