Carrie Underwood Reveals How She Records ‘Sunday Night Football’ Theme

It wouldn’t be Sunday Night Football without Carrie Underwood.

Since taking over as the voice of NBC’s iconic football theme in 2013, the country superstar has welcomed fans to primetime each week. But before the NFL season even kicks off, Underwood has already recorded every possible team matchup listeners could hear throughout the regular season and playoffs.

Speaking with “The Morning Mash Up” on SiriusXM Hits 1, Carrie explained the process behind creating the weekly theme song.

“It’s one main version, top to bottom, and then kind of filling in lines,” Carrie said. “When we go in to record, we do it all at once.”

That means recording much more than one song.

“We go through and pick up all the matchups for each week of regular-season football, and then we go into playoff football,” she said. “And I then sing every possible combination of teams that could possibly maybe play each other.”

Carrie also reflected on what makes performing the theme so meaningful.

“I think my favorite is when it kind of dawns on me that before these guys were playing in Sunday Night Football games, they were watching Sunday Night Football,” she said. “When they get there, I’m a little part of their journey, which is really cool.”

When asked whether she’d ever headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show, Carrie said she’d only consider it under the right circumstances.

“That’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “It would have to be just the right circumstances.”

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When asked if she’d ever consider headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show, Carrie said she wasn’t sure yet. “I mean, that’s a lot of pressure. It would have to be just the right circumstances,” she explained. Earlier this week, Usher was announced as the 2024 Halftime Show performer.

Carrie recently shared that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce personally thanked her for helping him getting ready for games with her songs.

“I think my favorite is when … it kind of dawns on me that it’s like, before these guys were playing in Sunday Night Football games, they were watching Sunday Night Football,” Carrie shared. “It would’ve been the equivalent of me watching awards shows or people performing on TV, just being like, ‘Oh my gosh, if I could only do that.’ … And I’ve been [recording the theme for] 11 years, so some of these guys were younger, watching these football games, just thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, if I could be on Sunday Night Football.’ And then, when they get there, I’m a little part of their journey, which is really cool.”

Since 2013, Carrie has been the face (and voice) of Sunday Night Football, taking over theme song duties from fellow vocal powerhouse Faith Hill. In previous years, she performed “Oh Sunday Night” and “Game On.” Throughout this season, her “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” performance video will be updated weekly with clips from each Sunday’s competing teams. The video was recorded at The Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas — home of her recent residency, REFLECTION — and features a concert performance interspersed with augmented reality highlights displayed across a halo scoreboard.