It’s not an easy feat to sing the “Star Spangled Banner” for big games and events. For years, the top singers and performers have been trying their best at it, and while many have been amazing, others…? Not so much. And after watching Alicia Keys try something different with her rendition of the national anthem this past Sunday, we thought we’d go through some of the best of the best, the hottest of the messes and the performances that piqued our interest for different unique reasons. And boy was it fun! Check out these 10 takes on the national anthem and decide if you agree with us about who killed it, who should have sat down somewhere, and who made us think a stepper’s jam version of the “Star Spangled Banner” wouldn’t be so bad…

And no, Roseanne Barr is not on this list because she HAD to be joking…

Mariah Carey

One Of The Best

In 2002, with her long blonde hair and tiny frame, Mimi stepped on the stage and killed the national anthem (in a good way of course). Her notes were on point (especially the very high one she did when she sang “freeeeeeeeee”), and with the dramatic music done in the background by the band, it was just perfect. And it wouldn’t be a Mariah Carey performance without her signature hand movements. It’s one of the few renditions of the “Star Spangled Banner” that I can listen to as if it’s an actual top 10 hit on the radio.

In case you haven’t noticed, which I’m sure you have, lip-synching is all anyone cares about these days. And now because Beyonce “fooled” everyone during the inauguration, journalists are going to dig into every lip-synching controversy ever to find out did they or didn’t they — starting with Whitney Houston.

Since Cissy is on the interview trail right now after her candid interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired Monday night, OMG Insider took the opportunity to ask Whitney’s mother about her daughter’s famous performance of the “Star Spangled Banner” during Super Bowl XXV in 1991.  Cissy told Kevin Frazier:

“She killed it. I was so proud of her and I wasn’t there. I had broken my ankle and I couldn’t go.”

When the reporter then asked Cissy about the Super Bowl affiliates wanting Whitney to lip-sync, she said:

“She wouldn’t do it. She said, ‘I want to sing it’ and she sang it.  She sang it! Yeah. I was real proud of her. Always been proud of her.”

As we all know by now, that’s not what the story has been all these years. In 2004, Jimmy Jam told Seattle PI nonchalantly ”I thought everybody knew that everybody lip-synched” and specifically said of Whitney:

“Whitney, when she did the national anthem, which was the greatest national anthem that we ever heard, what we heard over the air was prerecorded. The reason it was prerecorded was, that was a moment that no one wanted any mistakes. They didn’t want any feedback, they didn’t want any technical difficulties … and it was great.”

Honestly, at this point, Whitney Houston is gone and this performance was 22 years ago. Her rendition of the National Anthem, whether live or not, is still one of the greatest to ever be done, and if it weren’t for Beyonce’s wanna-be scandal no one would even care. And sorry to say, but Cissy is not the most reliable source. What kind of mother would she be to not defend her daughter’s legacy, much like she’s done when questions of her drug use have risen. We just need to leave it alone and stick to what Jimmy Jam said : everybody lip-syncs.

Source: AP Images

**Update**

According to the International Business Times, the New Yorker’s article on Rand Paul asking for President Obama to resign was just a joke. Apparently Andy Borowitz’s article was satire and he regularly writes these types of opinion pieces on current events — without letting people know they’re not real.

Well, at least this is relief Republicans aren’t that crazy.

*******

I really wanted that headline to read: GTFOHWTBSYRAMF — the last letters meaning you racist a** mother f***ers but that’s not very ladylike so I’ll stop while I’m already behind on my swearing allotment for the day. But after you read this, you might want to yell out a few expletives too.

The New Yorker, in its Borowitz Report, has quoted the always-ridiculous Senator Rand Paul — a Republican from Kentucky, of course — who is now calling on President Obama to resign from office because Beyonce lip-synched the National Anthem during inauguration. According to him:

“By lip-synching the national anthem, Beyoncé has cast a dark cloud over the President’s second term. The only way President Obama can remove that cloud is by resigning from office at once.”

“We must remember that this happened on President Obama’s watch. If Beyoncé lip-synched the national anthem, how do we know President Obama didn’t lip-sync his oath of office?” he said. “If that’s the case, he’s not legally President. But just to be on the safe side, he should resign anyway.”

Source: AP Images

Beyonce has a tendency to get on my nerves just as much as the next disgruntled blogger who has to write about everything she does simply because the Beyhive has more numbers than McDonald’s has daily visitors. But people care about what she does — and doesn’t do, as appears to be the case with her supposedly not singing the National Anthem during the inauguration yesterday — still I’m having a hard time understanding all the hoopla over what has become in one short hour, a lip-synching controversy.

The Times in the UK supposedly broke the story that Queen Bey, who may now be demoted down to a princess if some folks have their way, didn’t actually sing the “Star Spangled Banner” on the National Mall yesterday and the NY Post followed up with confirmation from a rep for the United States Marine Band who revealed that Beyonce decided to perform to a pre-recorded track at the last minute. Kristin DuBois told Page Six:

“All music is pre-recorded for the ceremony because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day. We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyonce was going to use the pre-recorded vocal track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don’t know what the reason why.”

I can’t really think of a reason why either, other than Beyonce being a notorious perfectionist. But the way I see it, if she can gyrate and booty pop while barely breaking a sweat and hitting every note during her concerts, why the hell would she need to lip-synch standing still on the Capitol — other than it was brick cold and, again, she’s a notorious perfectionist. But at the end of the day, does this news — if it’s true — really change anything we admire about Bey?

Truth be told, I’m more annoyed with the way she stood at the podium as the music started and gazed at the audience like she was the one being sworn in than I am with her lip-synching. That dramatic moment when she ripped that earpiece out of her ear is all the more over the top now that the story is that there was nothing for her to hear in the first place. But lip-synching on the day our commander-in-chief is sworn into office? Doesn’t bother me so much. And though I’d probably deny ever writing this if someone asked me, I lowkey feel sorry for the girl because I feel like this controversy is the fake baby bump story all over again. It’s as though people can’t just let the girl be great (or pretend to be great one day) without mass hysteria ensuing. But then again, I think back to the fact that she made $50 million off of a deal with Pepsi and has a body on the cover of GQ that has made roughly 99.9% of women across the globe sign up for gym memberships, and the fact that she and Jay are couple BFFs with the FLOTUS and POTUS and I think, ahhh she’ll be aight. People will care about this situation for all of 12 hours and then the thirst for her next song/video/Instagram post/pic of the back of her baby’s head will resume again at an all-time high.

Do you Bey, however it is you do it — or don’t.

What do you think about rumors not so Baddie Bey lip-synched during the inauguration yesterday?

The “Star Spangled Banner” is one of the most difficult songs to sing, even for the most gifted of singers, but Beyonce was up to the challenge today as she belted out the country’s national anthem during the inauguration of Barack Obama for his second term. Baddie Bey definitely put her own spin on the song as she closed out today’s ceremony, and even news anchors had to remark how each one of today’s performers, from Kelly Clarkson to King/Queen Bey knocked their songs out of the park.

Let’s see if you agree. Check out video of Beyonce’s performance this morning. Did she kill it?

(Also, am I the only one who saw Tina Knowles all up and through Bey’s face before she started singing?)

Source: WENN

I know the girl’s on fire, but some of Alica Keys’ most recent performances, not to mention 99% of American’s disgust with her latest track, has put out that blaze just a tad. But that doesn’t make A. Keys no nevermind because according to The Associated Press, she will be performing the National Anthem at the Superbowl February 3.

A person familiar with Super Bowl entertainmentplans broke the news to AP, but reportedly spoke on condition of anonymity because the NFL has not yet announced the anthem singer. So basically we can say Alicia Keys is going to sing it but we can’t really say for sure Alicia Keys is going to sing it. (We here but we not really here *Cue Rasheeda*).

Anywho, this makes for an even more interesting Superbowl lineup. The football event will likely already draw more viewers than usual with Beyonce headlining the halftime performance, plus rumors that the ladies of Destiny’s Child will join her on stage. I don’t doubt that even more people will tune in for tip-off now to see what spin Alicia Keys puts on “The Star Spangled Banner.” Here’s hoping (hard) for the best!

Are you excited to see Alicia Keys’ sing the National Anthem during the Superbowl?

Source: WENN

Lately all people have been talking about is Beyonce’s upcoming Superbowl Halftime show — and her her super intimate New Year’s Eve performance in Vegas, but Bey has another stellar appearance up her sleeve this winter. According to PEOPLE, the singer will be performing at President Obama’s inauguration January 21.

The ceremony will be held at the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, where Baddie Bey will be performing the National Anthem. She’ll be joined by Kelly Clarkson who will perform “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and James Taylor who will sing “America the Beautiful.”

I believe the last time we heard Beyonce take on the National Anthem was the 2004 Superbowl. During President Obama’s first term, Bey sang Etta James’ “At Last” during the inaugural ball and garnered much praise for her silky vocals. Let’s see how she turns out the National Anthem in a few weeks.

In other inauguration news, Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, has been chosen by President Obama to deliver the invocation at his public swearing in this month. According to the Washington Post, “It is believed to be the first time a woman, and a layperson rather than a clergy member, has been chosen to deliver what may be America’s most prominent public prayer.”

Looks like more black history is continuing to be made in 2013.

If you were too busy trying to find a television to watch the Academy Awards on last night like we were, and could only flip to the NBA All-Star Game on TNT occasionally, you may or may have not missed Nicki Minaj open the game. Going through about four songs (“Spaceships,” “Super Bass,” “Moment 4 Life” and “Turn Me On”), she presented both the team’s rosters and in the midst of all that, was able to change wigs (from a colorful neon yellow/green to a purple short wig) and throw on a “Queen” ring with her skintight white and sparkly gray ensemble. The second set of performances for the West team were a lot better than the first for the East in my opinion. The “Spaceships” song just doesn’t float my boat, but “Moment 4 Life” always gets everyone pretty hype. But somebody needs to buy her auto-tune because her singing voice live is like cats screaming at the sight of a bathtub…

And our girl Mary J. Blige (see the last video) helped get the game started by singing the Star Spangled Banner. LOVE, love, love her, but a lot of people thought she overdid it with her rendition and I can agree a little bit. There were a few notes that she over-reached on that made you bring your shoulders up in surprise (like cold water being thrown on you). However, the rest of the performance was pretty good. And may I add that she looked oh-so fabulous!?

But per the usual, you be the judge of the performances and let us know who killed it and who needed to just stop:

PS, the West won…

And now for the West performance…

And as for Mary…

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We were pleased to find out that Anita Baker was performing the National Anthem at Game 4 of the NBA finals. Too bad her promise to “raise eyebrows” was fulfilled for all the wrong reasons.

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