With today being the Fourth of July and all, I feel it’s my civic duty to unite us, if but for a short time, with the one act of blind patriotism we can all get behind: counting down the most over-the-top, overwhelming renditions of the national anthem, as performed by Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, and the rest of your favorite divas of pop music. (In no particular order, of course, so please don’t tweet me death threats. Thanks!)
To clarify, by national anthem I mean “The Star-Spangled Banner” only. (As in, the actual, official national anthem.) That means that neither Aretha Franklin singing “My Country, ‘Tis Of Thee” at the 2009 presidential inauguration nor the bejeweled-bow hat she wore at said inauguration are on the list. Pour out a vial of eagle tears in mourning, and move past it. Your country needs you. Please rise.
1. Whitney Houston at Super Bowl XXV, 1991
There’s a reason we’ve invented the phrase “I CAN’T,” and this is it. Literally, the gold standard of national anthem performances.
2. Beyoncé at the Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show Press Conference, 2013
After being accused of lip-synching “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration on January 21 of that year, Bey used her halftime show press conference to prove that she’s more than capable of vocally annihilating the song. She also demonstrated one of the unsung benefits of singing the national anthem: automatic ...