There's no way to ensure your performance will be flawless.
Super Bowl flub in the National Anthem?
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There's no way to ensure your performance will be flawless.
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She shouldn't feel bad. God forbid someone make a mistake, though it's true that TV is wholly unforgiving of such things. Still, it was a simple mistake and the world didn't end. She's a rather talented singer.
The anthem rather turns me off, so I don't particularly care. If she'd started singing "Nuestra Himno", that would be interesting.
You're wrong. It's a very difficult song for amateurs and even for many pros both lyrically and because it has a wide range of an octave and a half. As I said before, the US National Anthem is notorious for frequently tripping people up, which is why it's often prerecorded and lip-synced at many sporting events.
The Dixie Chicks version was "stylized" too. Not nearly as much as Aguilera and others have done, but they changed the tempo a couple times, warbled, and put emphasis on alternate notes. The fact that it's still such a well-received version in spite of that speaks to the fact that absolute conformity to the traditional style is not always necessary to still produce a great rendition.
If we're bashing stylized versions of the national anthem as disrespectful, that means no Jimi Hendrix National Anthem at Woodstock, and bashing that means you and I are going to have words.
It should be noted that the NBA, MLB, and NHL are effectively "international" in that they all have teams in Canada as well as the US. That's not why they sing the song, but still.
Anyway, soldiers and civilians started singing the Star-Spangled Banner before baseball games during the US Civil War as a symbol of Union solidarity. It was played on opening day in Philadelphia in 1897, and regularly at the Polo Grounds in NYC from 1898 on. President Wilson ordered it to be played at military events and other appropriate settings in 1916, and two years later it gained national association with baseball when it was played during the seventh inning stretch of the World Series during WW1. President Hoover signed it into law as the official national anthem in 1931. During WW2 the song 'Ballad for Americans' performed by football player/singer Paul Robeson (and later Bing Crosby) actually competed with it in popularity at some sporting events for a while.
The modern tradition of singing it before every baseball game (and gradually every major pro sporting event afterward) came about as a result of the huge number of professional baseball players (over 700) returning from serving in WW2. It was sung in their honor and eventually caught on as a pre-game tradition.
It's unprofessional for her to not overcome human nature and be infallible? Well, as long as your expectations are reasonable.
Well the lyrics aren't hard. How to sing them correctly is a whole other issue. But it's one verse of lyrics that shouldn't be hard to memorize.
The Hendrix version is, indeed, very good (though not quite my taste) and I agree the Dixie Chicks' version is stylized to their bluegrassian style but they didn't go overboard the way Xina did here especially with the stage theatrics, gyrations and facial contortions, as said above she seemed to try and make the song more about herself than about the song. She was performing rather than just singing the song.
The above mentioned Chicks? Just stood there and sung the song.
The Hendrix version is, indeed, very good (though not quite my taste) and I agree the Dixie Chicks' version is stylized to their bluegrassian style but they didn't go overboard the way Xina did here especially with the stage theatrics, gyrations and facial contortions, as said above she seemed to try and make the song more about herself than about the song. She was performing rather than just singing the song.
The above mentioned Chicks? Just stood there and sung the song.
See, and I thought it was NFL policy for it to be lip-synched specifically to avoid such mistakes. The entire group of people I was with was quite surprised that it wasn't.
It often is prerecorded and lip-synced depending on the stadium acoustics, the weather, and how well the singer is doing in rehearsal. In this case the weather was good, and Aguilera must have been doing fine in rehearsal or just assured them that she had sung it frequently enough before to have it down.
In baseball, some stadiums almost always prerecord it, like Fenway.
In baseball, some stadiums almost always prerecord it, like Fenway.
I teach Band at the basketball mecca of Wisconsin. I have been to the WIAA State Tournament Series once for Boys Basketball and five times for Girls. When it is my school's "turn" to lead the anthem, a few of the girls in Band and Choir go to the scorers' table and lead the singing over the PA while the Band plays it. We've done this at several high schools, the Kohl Center at UW, and the Dane County Coliseum. Not once have we flubbed it, not once have the gals had problems with the words, the melody, or the harmony. It's not about us, it's about giving the audience the full opportunity to participate. It's damn good, and we've received tons of compliments. If my little D3 high school Band can accomplish this, surely we don't need to lip-sync to pre-recordings.
The Star Spangled Banner is a hard freaking song to sing. Even if you sing it a hundred times perfectly, that doesn't mean that, on the 101st time, you're not going to transpose or mis-sing a word, which throws off the whole line. I highly doubt that Ms Aguilera failed to learn the words to the song. She missed a word, which botched the line. Happens ALL the time.
At events like this, it's not about audience participation; it's about the performance -- that singer hopefully delivering the best performance of any song in his or her career in that moment. No wonder they tend to oversing. At the Olympics, on the other hand, the audience joining in is part of the tradition.
Singers sing in different styles, and just because you don't like that style doesn't mean the version is disrespectful. This is the way Ms Aguilera sings -- powerhouse and passionate. She meant to do her best. (I'm not talking about obvious atrocities like Roseanne.)
Jose Feliciano took A LOT of flack for singing the Anthem in a decidedly folk-Latino style (this was way back in 1968). People boycotted his songs because he added his own cultural flavor.
Smokey Robinson (1986 World Series) took the Anthem to church and delivered an emotional hymn, combining it with "America the Beautiful."
Marvin Gaye R&B'd the song up whenever he sang it.
Each singer has his or her own style, and the song means whatever it means to them.
Who the hell are you to decide that it's not the "right" way to sing it?
(BTW, the song is usually pre-recorded and lip-synched at Fenway because the acoustics there make it impossible to hear the music in real time. That is why, even when people do sing it live, they look like they're in a badly dubbed kung fu movie.)
I feel bad for Ms Aguilera because she must be feeling so disappointed and embarrassed.
At events like this, it's not about audience participation; it's about the performance -- that singer hopefully delivering the best performance of any song in his or her career in that moment. No wonder they tend to oversing. At the Olympics, on the other hand, the audience joining in is part of the tradition.
Singers sing in different styles, and just because you don't like that style doesn't mean the version is disrespectful. This is the way Ms Aguilera sings -- powerhouse and passionate. She meant to do her best. (I'm not talking about obvious atrocities like Roseanne.)
Jose Feliciano took A LOT of flack for singing the Anthem in a decidedly folk-Latino style (this was way back in 1968). People boycotted his songs because he added his own cultural flavor.
Smokey Robinson (1986 World Series) took the Anthem to church and delivered an emotional hymn, combining it with "America the Beautiful."
Marvin Gaye R&B'd the song up whenever he sang it.
Each singer has his or her own style, and the song means whatever it means to them.
Who the hell are you to decide that it's not the "right" way to sing it?
(BTW, the song is usually pre-recorded and lip-synched at Fenway because the acoustics there make it impossible to hear the music in real time. That is why, even when people do sing it live, they look like they're in a badly dubbed kung fu movie.)
I feel bad for Ms Aguilera because she must be feeling so disappointed and embarrassed.
An octave and 1/2 is nothing for a college level or pro singer. It is a rather muscular melody though. But, a pop singer is not necessarilya pro singer, though you occasionally get Roy Orbisons and the like.
She started the anthem in a very low key, and still had to scream the top notes. Still, it wasn't a bad rendition in a rock/gospel style (if you ignore flubbing the ramparts and the now immortal "our plane was still there") What she does she does well. The phrasing was weird in places, but the embellishments sounded quite good.
She did look unhealthy, which could be a factor.
Anyway, I think it's entirely appropriate to the fucking super bowl(tm) to have an expensive, big name pop singer who's not as good vocally as the better community college singers out there.
This is not to slight Christina or her producers' skills at music marketing, but the simple fact is that you will almost always hear better musicianship from behind the scenes, outside of pop genres, or amongst good amateurs.
She started the anthem in a very low key, and still had to scream the top notes. Still, it wasn't a bad rendition in a rock/gospel style (if you ignore flubbing the ramparts and the now immortal "our plane was still there") What she does she does well. The phrasing was weird in places, but the embellishments sounded quite good.
She did look unhealthy, which could be a factor.
Anyway, I think it's entirely appropriate to the fucking super bowl(tm) to have an expensive, big name pop singer who's not as good vocally as the better community college singers out there.
This is not to slight Christina or her producers' skills at music marketing, but the simple fact is that you will almost always hear better musicianship from behind the scenes, outside of pop genres, or amongst good amateurs.
Roseanne was just horrendous and it was almost mocking America, including the crotch-grab/spit at the end of it. Yeah, Rosanne was terrible. But CA did it like she does everything, like a shitty pop singer. Yeah, yeah, she's won Grammys and everything but I'm not a fan of her music or her style. Line flubs aside there is no sense of grandeur, pride, and emotion for America in her version (either one, frankly) of TSSB.
I still don't buy that the lyrics are hard as they're something every American should know and the version sung at events like this is just one damn verse, eight lines. It's not "that hard" and I really think she lost her place due to all of her theatrics and convulsions and such she was doing. Just go out there, sing the song, and GTFO.
You don't need to sing like you're doing a freaking Bonnie Tyler power ballad. She messed up the lines as I said, fair enough, I don't think it should have happened but, hey, shit happens. The line flub is more humorous to me than anything else. The whole performance was just lousy in my opinion.
I still don't buy that the lyrics are hard as they're something every American should know and the version sung at events like this is just one damn verse, eight lines. It's not "that hard" and I really think she lost her place due to all of her theatrics and convulsions and such she was doing. Just go out there, sing the song, and GTFO.
You don't need to sing like you're doing a freaking Bonnie Tyler power ballad. She messed up the lines as I said, fair enough, I don't think it should have happened but, hey, shit happens. The line flub is more humorous to me than anything else. The whole performance was just lousy in my opinion.
I think we all know how you feel about her performance by now.
From my experience on this board, I feel like Americans put a lot more emphasis on symbols that people from other countries. Our flag, our anthems...these things are important to us.
It's all part of that silly 'national pride and everyone working together for the betterment of all of society' thing that gets in our way.
Not to say other countries don't do that but I think America's patriotism and the amount of weight put behind symbols like the flag, The Star Spangled Banner and other symbols helps unite us. For those two minutes when Republicans, Democrats, Tea Partiers, Independents, Whigs, or whatever are all standing in that stadium, in their homes, in bars, or wherever are all together honoring the flag in their own way we're all "together" and remembering, to a degree, what this country means and stands for and the struggles and fights she has gone through to get here.
For those two minutes everyone is together in agreement whether it's 30,000 people in a stadium or 100 million people across the globe at that time we're all American and we all believe in freedom. (We just all have different views on the hows and whys of it.)
Not to say other countries don't do that but I think America's patriotism and the amount of weight put behind symbols like the flag, The Star Spangled Banner and other symbols helps unite us. For those two minutes when Republicans, Democrats, Tea Partiers, Independents, Whigs, or whatever are all standing in that stadium, in their homes, in bars, or wherever are all together honoring the flag in their own way we're all "together" and remembering, to a degree, what this country means and stands for and the struggles and fights she has gone through to get here.
For those two minutes everyone is together in agreement whether it's 30,000 people in a stadium or 100 million people across the globe at that time we're all American and we all believe in freedom. (We just all have different views on the hows and whys of it.
)
My flag and my anthem would be important to me if I had any respect for my country. It's hard for any song to invoke feelings of misty-eyed patriotism when you have no faith in the country it's supposed to be glorifying.
Thank you, I didn't know any of that. I still think it's a silly tradition, but I guess most traditions are silly.
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