Christina Aguilera became the latest in a long line of celebrities to take on the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, and lose:
The Star-Spangled Banner can be a notoriously difficult song to sing, with its broad range and piercing high notes. But usually, the lyrics work out just fine.
At the opening of Super Bowl XLV, less than a minute into the song, Christina Aguilera mangled some words of the national anthem.
Instead of “O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming,” Ms. Aguilera belted out, “What so proudly we watched at the twilight’s last reaming.” That line was a repeat of one she’d already sung a few seconds earlier, except with some personal embellishments, like her replacement of the word “gleaming” with “reaming.”
Ms. Aguilera’s flub was heard by tens of millions of viewers. Twitter was immediately abuzz with talk of her mistake, and by the third quarter her Wikipedia page was changed to include the incident.
“I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through,” Aguilera said in a statement after the performance, The Associated Press reported.
It’s not the easiest song in the world to sing, of course, and these celebrities seem to feel compelled to outdo themselves during their two minutes on the world stage. Nonetheless, I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like the NFL should either find a decent singer or just not do the Anthem at all.
