September means Sunday Night Football on NBC, and Carrie Underwood is back to sing the theme song. “Oh, Sunday Night” is set to the music of “Somethin’ Bad,” a duet from the American Idol season 4 winner and Miranda Lambert which was released in 2014. Carrie re-worked the song with the songwriters of “Somethin’ Bad”– Chris DeStefano, Brett James, and Priscilla Renea.
The SNF opening debut was between the New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys, which is reflected in the opening. Carrie had to record a ton of different openings for each match up. Watch the opener below.
In the past, when NBC has had the Super Bowl, the opening segment has featured a variation on the “Sunday Night Football” theme. But this year, Gaudelli asked Underwood to write a new number. Her song “The Champion” will debut ahead of the big game in February.
“I think it’s going to become a sports anthem,” he says. “It’s going to be one of those songs that you see cut to highlights for the next 25 years.”
“The open is set in different football towns. We have all these different stars in their elements, and go through these scenarios,” Carrie explained in a behind the scenes clip. “Everybody follows me and we all end up together.” Adds Carrie about how NBC changes up the opening every season, “They definitely…want things to look different. [They] even go back in the studio and make some adjustments and refresh the song a bit.”
Interestingly, the inspiration for the slow-mo action this clip is inspired by a show on the other end of the entertainment spectrum. Fred Gaudelli, Sunday Night Football executive producer told Variety in a recent interview that he was watching red-carpet pre-awards coverage on E! and took a shine to the “Glambot,” a super slow-motion camera that shoots 300 frames per second. E! used the camera to show off red-carpet fashions of actors like Jennifer Lopez.
The opening was shot over three days on the Universal lot with a budget in the seven-figure range. The crew took a fourth day to shoot the opening segment for Super Bowl 52.
When NBC had the Super Bowl in the past, the opening segment featured a variation on the Sunday Night Football theme. But this year, Gaudelli asked Carrie to write a new number. Her song “The Champion” will debut ahead of the big game in February.
“I think it’s going to become a sports anthem,” he says. “It’s going to be one of those songs that you see cut to highlights for the next 25 years.”
Carrie is joined in the show open by 10 NFL players, including: Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antonio Brown, Oakland Raiders QB Derek Carr, New England Patriots LB Dont’a Hightower, Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce, Atlanta Falcons WR Julio Jones, Oakland Raiders LB Khalil Mack, Denver Broncos LB Von Miller, Arizona Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson, New York Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul, and Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott.
