Carrie Underwood Will Perform at Donald Trump's Inauguration After Keeping Her Political Views Private for Years

Carrie Underwood will be performing at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

The American Idol alum will perform on Monday, Jan. 20 during the ceremony in which Trump, 78, is sworn in as the next president of the United States, a Presidential Inaugural Committee spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE on Jan. 13.

“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,” the American Idol winner said in a statement to PEOPLE. “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 country singer has kept her political views private for years.

In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, Underwood said that she feels that "more people try to pin me places politically."

"I try to stay far out of politics if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins," she added at the time. "It’s crazy. Everybody tries to sum everything up and put a bow on it, like it’s black and white. And it’s not like that."

Some fans believed her 2018 song "The Bullet" was a political statement.

"You can blame it on hate or blame it on guns / But mamas ain't supposed to bury their sons," she sings in the first verse. "Left a hole in her heart and it still ain't done / The bullet keeps on goin.' "

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"Immediately people said, ‘Oh you have a song about gun control!’ It was more about the lives that were changed by something terrible happening," she told The Guardian of the initial response. "And it does kind of bug me when people take a song, or take something I said and try to pigeonhole or force me to pick a side or something. It’s a discussion — a long discussion."

Trump's 2017 inauguration featured performances by Jackie Evancho of America's Got Talent, the Radio City Rockettes, The Missouri State University Chorale and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Lee Greenwood, Three Doors Down, Toby Keith and The Piano Guys were among those who performed at his pre-inauguration concert.

Underwood's inaugural participation comes more than seven years after she and fellow country star Brad Paisley poked fun at Trump while hosting the 2017 Country Music Association Awards together. During the show, the cohosts performed a parody of Underwood's hit song "Before He Cheats," replacing the iconic chorus lyrics with "before he tweets."

“And it’s fun to watch, yeah, that’s for sure / ’Til little Rocket Man starts a nuclear war," the pair sang onstage at the CMAs. "Maybe next time, he’ll think before he tweets.”