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Justin Timberlake and Ant Clemon’s had a stunning performance tonight for the Celebrating America event in honor of the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The event was hosted by Tom Hanks and had special appearances and musical performances. Timberlake returned to his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, and brought along the GRAMMY-nominated artist to perform an all-new rendition of their song “Better Days.” The inspiring performance was held at the iconic Stax Museum of American Soul Music and they invited students and alumni from the Stax Music Academy, a music education, and youth development program to join them. The singers sang along with a talented band led by Emmy nominated musical director Adam Blackstone.
Timberlake wore a green TOM FORD Shelton peak lapel suit and shared the video of their performance on Instagram. The multi-platinum artist voiced his thoughts in the caption and wrote, “Today we all watched @joebiden and @kamalaharris take office — and make history. Tonight, @antclemons and I are deeply honored to perform our new song, BETTER DAYS, as a celebration of everything this administration represents... as well as a reminder to keep our eyes on the road ahead. We have a lot of work to do, but I’m feeling very hopeful for this country right now. A huge thank you to my friends, students, and alumni at @staxmusicacademy for performing with us on your grounds in our hometown of Memphis. This is a very special place to me because it exists to nurture the next generation of great soul communicators. And if we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that this new generation of voices is powerful and crucial to creating much-needed change. I hope you all enjoy the performance, and I hope, more than anything, that this song brings a little bit of joy as we move forward.”
Timberlake announced that they would sing the song at inauguration on January 13. The artist tweeted, “A few months ago @AntClemons and I wrote BETTER DAYS. This song was our way of doing what little we could to encourage everyone to stay hopeful and to keep working towards a better future. I’m honored to announce we’ll be performing it for the Inauguration.”
The museum echoed Timberlake and was thankful that we were represented in such a powerful way. “The fact that the Stax Museum and Stax Music Academy were chosen by Justin Timberlake, Ant Clemons, and the Presidential Inaugural Committee to represent Memphis, Tennessee in the 2021 presidential inauguration, speaks not only volumes about the power, magic, and timelessness of soul music, but also casts a bright light on the work we have been doing here at the Soulsville Foundation for more than 20 years now,” said Soulsville Foundation President and CEO Richard Greenwald. “We are grateful to our friend Justin Timberlake for embracing our mission and genuinely caring about the young people with whom we work every day.”