Mickey Guyton, Darren Criss, Zoe Wees, Jon Batiste, Kim Petras, Nelly and Kristin Chenoweth are among the stars set to perform at the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City today.
Following last year’s crowd-less event, the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is back in full force for 2021. The department store’s 95th celebration takes place Thursday, November 25, where it will retrace its traditional 2.5-mile route through Manhattan, from the Upper West Side to Midtown.
This year, pop culture franchises, brands and corporations will once again get their names in front of live spectators, as the public is being welcomed back to watch the parade’s over-the-top floats, balloons and live performances from the streets. Macy’s is also getting in on the NFT action and auctioning off 10 pieces of digital art inspired by inflatable floats of decades past, with all proceeds benefitting the Make-A-Wish foundation.
This year’s Thanksgiving Parade showcases a host of star turns. Mickey Guyton recently earned three nominations for the upcoming 64th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Country Album with her recent Sept. 24 debut album Remember Her Name, and for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song for title track.
Guyton recently performed on the American Music Awards and on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Tina Turner. The CMT Breakout Artist of the Year has upcoming performances on this week’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and on the annual tree lighting for Christmas in Rockefeller Center on December 1.
Elsewhere, Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor, and Broadway star, Darren Criss’ new holiday record with Decca Records U.S. will be his first full length album and will feature original songs, creative reimaginings of classic tunes, and rarely covered hidden gems with guest artists Adam Lambert, Lainey Wilson, and Evan Rachel Wood. Criss will also be performing on the upcoming TV special, Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration! On Sunday, Nov 28 on ABC and the next day on Hulu.
Zoe Wees gave a powerful performance of her female empowerment anthem, “Girls Like Us,” on Sunday evening (Nov. 21) during the American Music Awards. The 19-year-old German singer/songwriter’s performance came as part of the new ‘AMA Song For Soul Moment,’ which celebrated the power of music and the artists that amplify their voices to inspire change. Also from Germany, Cologne native Kim Petras she has steadily built a following among the LGBTQ community and beyond with her brand of 80s-inspired, bubblegum dance pop. Petras became the first transgender performer at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards where she performed her new single “Future Starts Now”.
The Grammy-nominated Jon Batiste, meanwhile, is also set to premiere his latest opus, a culmination of more than a century of Black brilliance, at Carnegie Hall in May 2022. In American Symphony, the Oscar-winning composer salutes musical visionaries—such as Duke Ellington, James Reese Europe, Mahalia Jackson, and Nina Simone—who once stood on the very stage upon which he concludes his Perspectives series.
Watch the livestream of this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.