Rumors are spreading all over the internet that Beyonce lip-synched the national anthem on Monday’s inauguration. It was also reported that Kelly Clarkson, who also sang that morning, did so live.
My first thought was, “My voice doesn’t even work in the morning, I couldn’t imagine someone telling me to hold a tune during that hour.” Not only that, but it is really cold in Washington D.C. this time of year. William Henry Harrison did not wear a hat or a coat during his inauguration and ended up catching pneumonia, dying a month later. So, you can imagine how the extreme weather would make for a difficult task of singing something with such a wide range of notes.
I seem to be the minority when sympathizing with Beyonce. People are reacting as if someone had just revealed Jesus was not born of a virgin. I’d first like to point out that this is not confirmed and may be false information being sensationalized all over the internet. However if it is true, I thought lip-synching wasn’t a new concept. The most iconic national anthem many would say was Whitney Houston’s Super Bowl performance. Later it was revealed that her performance was pre-recorded.
What do you think? Now knowing the national anthem might not have been performed live on Monday, does it make it less special? Was it unfair or deceiving that Kelly Clarkson sang live and Beyonce may not have, and both had celebrated performances? Or, do you not care? Is it better to hear something pleasant and on-key than out of tune?
The whole time she was singing, I was thinking how much I missed Whitney, and wondering if she hadn’t gotten into drugs, if she would be standing there singing instead of Beyonce. Anyway, as for as lip syncing is concerned…. As long as the artist recorded it and they are singing along with a dead mic, so they really are feeling what they are singing, I really don’t think it hurts anything. I also think it’s one more thing the officials don’t have to worry about as far as predictability at the event. I mean what if Beyonce decided to choose that moment to give a shout out to her cause of the week, or something equally embarrassing. One less thing to worry about. It’s all pomp and circumstance for this occasion anyway.
I didn’t see any evidence that it was not live, although I honestly don’t care either way. I mean, politicians don’t even write their own speeches…somehow this is a bigger scandal? What a weird thing for America to obsess about.
I really think it’s ridiculous that such a big deal is being made of Beyonce’s performance of the Star Spangled Banner. If she had performed it live and had not sounded good, the same folks griping about the recording would have been bashing her for messing it up. I figure she was wanting to be respectful of the song and by lip-syncing, that was the best way for her to do that.
It doesn’t bother me that much, but I do think it’s misleading to have some performances be live and others pre-recorded. I give that much more credit to Kelly Clarkson for doing it live, although I know that the national anthem is a particularly difficult song, perhaps more difficult than “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”
And for the record, I live in DC, and it was nowhere near William Henry Harrison-level cold on Monday. We have the cold snap now, but it was in the upper 40s on Monday. Only really cold by CA standards.
Anyway, it doesn’t surprise me or bother me much, but I do think it should be openly disclosed which performances are live and which are not.
The lip syncing doesn’t bother me much at all as long as she’s singing along to her own voice.
What I’m hearing today is that Beyonce decided at the last minute to use her prerecorded vocals so my guess is that she didn’t feel her voice was 100% and wanted the anthem to be perfect.
Side note to those wishing for Whitney – her 1991 beloved version of the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl – it was lip sync’d too.
It doesn’t bother me one way or another, but, I don’t care if I go to a concert and the artist is faking it as long as they put on a good show.
The only reason I would take issue with it is if someone were using a pre-taped performance as evidence of the artist’s ability to do live performances. And then, my ‘issue’ would simply be that their argument was unsound (a good pre-taped performance is NOT proof that someone is a good live performer).