Every four years millions of Americans find themselves glued to their TVs for nights on end as part of a quadrennial summer ritual – not the Summer Olympics, but the country’s political conventions.
Although the coronavirus pandemic altered the mechanics of the 2020 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, necessitating remote tapings and audience-free speeches, core aspects of patriotic agitprop and soaring political rhetoric remained. And, for one of the conventions, music again played a starring role.
While the RNC focused on politics, entertainers guided the DNC, with celebrity hosts Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington and Julia Louis-Dreyfus introducing a notably diverse roster of performers. Billie Eilish and Maggie Rogers made appeals to young voters. Prince Royce courted the Latino vote with a cover of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” and Jennifer Hudson performed another classic, Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” John Legend and Common honored late Civil Rights leader John Lewis with “Glory,” their Oscar-winning contribution to the 2014 film Selma, and Leon Bridges addressed the Black Lives Matter movement with his new song “Sweeter.” Meanwhile, Stephen Stills and Billy Porter revived the ‘60s countercultural spirit with a rendition of Buffalo Springfield’s 1966 protest anthem “For What It’s Worth,” and The Chicks, long country music’s conscience, delivered a stirring, spine-tingling a cappella version of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
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