{"id":11018,"date":"2026-07-20T01:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T20:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11018"},"modified":"2026-07-20T01:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T20:01:11","slug":"jennifer-hudson-sings-national-anthem-at-2026-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11018","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Hudson Sings National Anthem at 2026 World Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe 2026 FIFA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/t\/world-cup\/\" id=\"auto-tag_world-cup\" data-tag=\"world-cup\">World Cup<\/a> final officially got underway with performances from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/jennifer-hudson\/\">Jennifer Hudson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/robbie-williams\/\">Robbie Williams<\/a> and more music stars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMoments before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/culture\/product-recommendations\/fifa-world-cup-2026-final-halftime-show-watch-online-free-1236296743\/\">kickoff between Argentina and Spain<\/a> at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Hudson delivered a theatrical rendition of the United States national anthem, \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWith U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump watching from a stadium suite, Hudson \u2014 one of just 22 artists to achieve EGOT status \u2014 stood on a long navy carpet stretching across the field wearing a white gown accented with red, white and blue trim. Numerous American flags waved behind her as she sang.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"\/>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAhead of the match, FIFA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/world-cup-closing-ceremony-jennifer-hudson-nicole-scherzinger-1236293796\/\">said in a press release<\/a> that the singer and actress would perform a \u201cspecial rendition\u201d of \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d and that the pre-kickoff ceremony would \u201ccelebrate the 48 teams\u2019 unforgettable journey\u201d throughout the expanded tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFollowing Hudson\u2019s performance, Williams, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/nicole-scherzinger\/\">Nicole Scherzinger<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/laura-pausini\/\">Laura Pausini<\/a> joined forces for a performance of FIFA\u2019s official anthem, \u201cDesire.\u201d Dressed in coordinated blue ensembles, the trio performed at the center of the field while surrounded by dozens of flag bearers representing nations from around the world.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"\/>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tTom Cruise then took the field to deliver a speech celebrating soccer\u2019s power to unite people across the globe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cSo as we gather for one final chapter, let us celebrate a tournament that brought the world together,\u201d the iconic film star  told the crowd. \u201cLet us celebrate each other. This is football. This is unity. This is greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tRepresenting the defending champions, Argentine star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/maria-becerra\/\">Mar\u00eda Becerra<\/a> later performed her country\u2019s national anthem while wearing a blue-and-white ensemble inspired by the Argentine flag.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"\/>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tEarlier in the pregame festivities, streamer IShowSpeed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/post-malone-2026-world-cup-closing-ceremony-swae-lee-1236297588\/\">energized the crowd<\/a> with his song \u201cChampions,\u201d followed by a hit-filled performance from Post Malone, who debuted a new song before bringing out Swae Lee for their Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash \u201cSunflower.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe World Cup final was also set to feature an 11-minute halftime show headlined by BTS, Justin Bieber, Madonna and Shakira. The performance was curated by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubpass.co\/billboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2HpFicp.png\" alt=\"Billboard VIP Pass\" style=\"max-width: 100%;height: auto\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 FIFA World Cup final officially got underway with performances from Jennifer Hudson, Robbie Williams and more music stars. Moments before kickoff between Argentina and Spain at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Hudson delivered a theatrical rendition of the United States national anthem, \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d With U.S. President Donald Trump and first&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/jennifer-hudson-world-cup-2026-billboard-1800.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}