Jackie Evancho feels "a little overwhelmed" ahead of her performance at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration concert on Friday (20.01.17).
The 16-year-old singer is to take the stage to sing the American national anthem ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ at the ceremony which will see Trump, 70, became the 45th President of the United States.
Many artists, including Sir Elton John, Rebecca Ferguson and Celine Dion, snubbed invitations to appear because of Trump’s controversial election campaign but Jackie is proud to be part of the historic event even though she has had both "negative and positive" reactions to her participation.
Jackie – who came second on ‘America’s Got Talent’ in 2010 at the age of just 10 – said: "I’ve had all sorts of reactions, I’ve had negative and positive and most of the time I can’t really think about the negative, all I need is the support from my family and friends.
"It’s a little overwhelming but it’s something I have to ignore and keep my mind set on my job, which is performing."
And Jackie – whose sister Juliet is transgender and currently undergoing a gender reassignment – insists that she accepted the invitation for "the honour" of performing for her country, and doesn’t want to "involve" herself with politics too much.
In an interview on UK TV show ‘Good Morning Britain’, she said: "My sister and I are best friends, we talk to each other about everything and she supports me because she understands my reason for doing this has nothing to do with politics, it’s all about the honour of performing for my country … I don’t involve myself with politics, it was never a thought in my brain."
It isn’t the first time the young star has performed for Donald Trump either, as she previously sang for him in "one of his hotels" after appearing on ‘America’s Got Talent’.
She said: "I performed for him in one of his hotels, off the back of ‘America’s Got Talent’. He was very polite and appreciative of me performing for him. It was a brief meeting but great."
Jackie Evancho ‘overwhelmed’ ahead of Donald Trump inauguration performance
