Damn it! It is bad enough to “stylize” a traditional song but then to forget the words? Christina Aguilera totally flubbed it at the 45th Super Bowl, and even had she not flubbed the words, it was still awful! Here is a partial report on the “happening” in case you missed it:
Christina Aguilera made some star-spangled flubs singing America’s national anthem at the Super Bowl. Did you catch her performance, or is that when you raced to the kitchen to replenish the guacamole? She mumbled some lines and moved others around to places in the song where they shouldn’t be.
One thing is sure: She was no Whitney Houston.
Remember Ms. Houston’s performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl in 1991? Back then, the US armed forces had not participated in major combat for many years – but the air-assault portion of the Gulf War had just started. The nation was in a highly patriotic mood. Houston, who has had her own challenges since then, gave an emotional rendition of the song, and it remains one of her career highlights.
So why didn’t the Christina Aguilera national anthem match Houston’s? We’ve got two personal opinions as to what happened.
First, she was trying too hard. Way too hard. She appeared to be auditioning for the part of Aretha Franklin in a biopic. She was all gesture and tremolo, like an R & B diva. Which she isn’t.
via Christina Aguilera national anthem: why she flubbed it – CSMonitor.com.
The article continues, graciously, to give more comforting reasons for the attempt.
My gripe is this: sing it the way it traditionally has been done prior to the modern attempts to give the singer’s personal style to it. Where is Kate Smith when we need her? The singing of the National Anthem at the commencement of the game, or any event, is (or at least should be) a patriotic salute to our flag and nation — not a “performance.”
Christina — and other potential flubbers — be proud to participate in the salutation, and save the performance for elsewhere and otherwise. Please!
Related Articles
- Christina Aguilera Explains Super Bowl National Anthem Flub (omg.yahoo.com)
- Christina Aguilera Responds to National Anthem Fumble – Just Jared (news.google.com)