Superstar JLo took the stage in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. late this morning (Jan. 20) to perform at the Inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Dressed in all white with her hair pulled back and looking as stylish as ever, Jennifer Lopez stepped up to the lectern and sang a beautiful rendition of “This Land is Your Land,” a famous folk song written by Woody Guthrie in 1940.
It was a reminder that the United States belongs to all its citizens no matter if they consider themselves conservative or liberal. “This land was made for you and me,” is the one line repeated throughout the song. The inaugural theme was “America United.”
Lopez was accompanied by the Marine Band, which has played at every presidential inauguration since Thomas Jefferson took the oath of office in 1801.
From “This Land is Your Land,” Lopez transitioned to singing “America the Beautiful.” As Lopez sang, shots of the Capitol from the PBS feed showed the 200,000 American flags waving in the National Mall, which represented the lives of the Americans lost to COVID-19 over the last year.
Latinos worldwide were full of pride when Lopez sent a message in Spanish to everyone watching. She said, “Una nación, bajo Dios, indivisible, con libertad y justicia para todos” –words from the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
Lopez then worked in the lyrics, “Let’s get loud” at the end of her statement, which is also the title of a song she recorded on her 1999 debut studio album On the 6.
Along with Lopez, Lady Gaga sang the “Star Spangled Banner,” Garth Brooks performed an A Capella version of “Amazing Grace” and poet laureate Amanda Gorman read the poem “The Hill We Climb.” Gorman became the youngest poet to deliver a poem at a presidential inauguration in U.S. history.