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As a black female country artist, Mickey Guyton has spent the past year breaking color — and gender — barriers in the predominantly white male genre. She gave a powerful performance of her song “Black Like Me” at the Grammys, was the first African-American woman to co-host the ACM Awards and rocked a supersize Afro when she did “Love My Hair” at the CMAs.
Now, the 38-year-old singer — whose debut album, “Remember Her Name,” is up for three Grammys in April — will have another memorable moment when she performs the national anthem at the Super Bowl on Sunday.
“It’s Black History Month, and a black country singer gets to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Wow,” Guyton told The Post. “This is a huge moment for me. It’s a huge moment for black people. And I want to represent that in the best possible way that I can.”
Before the Los Angeles Rams tackle the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, Guyton is planning to unite the players, the crowd and the country in song.
“I set my intentions with singing the national anthem. I was like, ‘OK, togetherness is what I really want,’” she said. “So, I felt the way that people would feel togetherness is if I had a choir, with people that I believe represent America. And, you know, I have everybody from my black queen to a redneck cowboy to a girl that has one leg in this choir. And that’s the America that I’m proud of — us all standing together. We all belong.”
Overcoming racism
Still, there are those who haven’t felt that Guyton belonged in country music simply because of the color of her skin. Even after all of her groundbreaking success in 2021, the Texas native started off 2022 by dealing with one such racist troll who tweeted, “We don’t want your kind in country music!” Guyton’s response? “Bless your little heart.”
“When you see something like that, you’re just like, ‘This person doesn’t even know who I am and what I represent,’” she said. “It’s like you can’t even fight with some of these people because what comes out of their mouth is just so beyond ignorance. It’s like a fool; you can’t argue with somebody like that.”
Despite such resistance, there has been a movement happening with black country artists — from Kane Brown and Jimmie Allen to veteran Darius Rucker — making strides in Nashville. Guyton, though, is not satisfied.
“I want to see more women,” she said. “It is not enough for just one black woman to make it in country music — or anywhere. It’s not enough, like, there can’t just be one.”
Game day plans
For right now, though, Guyton is enjoying the victory of scoring the national anthem spot on the biggest stage in the game. And she’s proud to be sharing the field with some other black artists who will be performing during the halftime show: Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige.
“I think I’m most excited to see Mary J. Blige do the classic Mary dance,” she said. “This is going to be one of the best halftime shows, and I cannot believe I’m a part of the Super Bowl that is doing it.”
As for who she’ll be rooting for during the big game — once she can just kick back with a glass of wine — it’s the Rams all the way.
“My husband [lawyer Grant Savoy] is from Los Angeles, so he’s a Rams fan. As soon as they came [back] to Los Angeles, he gave up his team, which was originally the Philadelphia Eagles,” said Guyton. “So he would kill me — or divorce me, not kill me — if I went for anybody else.”
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