Presidential Inauguration 2013: Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, and James Taylor Will Perform

Impact

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will be sworn in at the Capitol on January 21. Today, the Presidential Inaugural Committee will announce the full list of performers for the ceremony.

The list already includes pop culture sensation Beyoncé, who will be performing the National Anthem. Also performing will be American Idol’s only real success, Kelly Clarkson, who will sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” a song that shares a melody with the British National Anthem.

Five-time Grammy winner James Taylor, who is a legend in his own right but probably the least recognizable to millennial audiences, will also attend, performing “America The Beautiful.” Cuban-American Richard Blanco, the first ever Latino and also the youngest-ever inaugural poet, will conduct a reading.

This will be President Obama’s second inauguration. The first, held in 2009 at the National Mall, featured a performance by Aretha Franklin and drew over 1.8 million spectators. While the number of attendees for this event is also expected to surpass the one million mark, it has been reported that, in light of the current economic situation, the inauguration will be less ceremonious.

While the complete list of performances is yet to be announced, it is probably a safe guess that Matt Damon will play no role. The man can deliver a mean monologue and would have been a fantastic addition, (Bourne outdoes Dirty Harry any day,) but the president and Damon probably aren’t on the best of terms right now.

Either way, no matter what happens, the terms Damon could inspire will definitely be cooler than Eastwooding, which sounds pretty crass.