Grammy Award-winning singer and ‘American Idol’ judge Carrie Underwood got an outsider perspective on just how much she has aced the NFL ‘Sunday Night Football’ theme song.

Since 2013, NBC’s Sunday Night Football program has used Carrie Underwood’s performance of their theme song, “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night.” Underwood replaced Faith Hill, who was featured on the SNF intro from 2007 to 2012.

A singer going by the name of “YANI” auditioned in front of Underwood, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan for season 23 of American Idol. Yani said she’d sing a “familiar” tune to the judges before launching into an Underwood-like rendition of the SNF theme song.

And Underwood was left speechless left over YANI’s masterful performance:

Bryan gave his verdict first, telling YANI it was a “no” since he found her performance of the Sunday Night Football song “theatrical.” Underwood gave it a yes, admitting that she wasn’t sure if Yani was “right for the show,” but she couldn’t say no to the voice.

The cameras then turned to Richie, who told YANI she was “so damn good at it.” The three judges then told her she was Hollywood-bound:

Congratulations to Yani on the successful audition, and best of luck the rest of the way on season 23 of American Idol.

Super Bowl 60 Will Be On NBC ‘Sunday Night Football’

Cris Collinsworth, Carrie Underwood and Mike Tirico (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The 2025 NFL regular season schedule likely won’t be announced until the second week of May. What we do know is that the NBC Sunday Night Football program will call Super Bowl 60 next season, with Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth in the booth.

This will be Mike Tirico’s first Super Bowl in the broadcast booth. He replaced Al Michaels as SNF’s play-by-play voice in 2022, after the former called Super Bowl 56 between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals with Collinsworth.