Musician Alicia Keys performs the National Anthem prior to the start of Super Bowl XLVII between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on February 3, 2013 in New Orleans
*A high-profile performance of the National Anthem is the source of controversy for a second straight month.
Just as the Beyonce lip-synching uproar at the Inauguration begins to fade, here comes Alicia Keys and her jazzy rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl – a performance that was overwhelmingly well received.
“Yes lawd,” gushed Spike Lee of her slowed down take. “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson declared, Keys “killed it.”
But not everyone was impressed. Reader responses to Yahoo! Music’s initial positive coverage of Keys’ anthem were more dismissive, or angry, than laudatory.
“Stop trying to make the national anthem ‘your own’,” said one of the most popular reactions on the site. “It’s not yours. It’s ours collectively. Sing it the way it’s supposed to be sung.”
Later, the same user added, “I never meant to imply she wasn’t a great musician or that she butchered the song in any way. I just feel the National Anthem is one song that should be performed the way it was written and artists shouldn’t try and use it as an opportunity to top the iTunes charts the next morning.”
Within five hours, that diss had 1,098 thumbs-ups on Yahoo!, and only 225 thumbs-down.
Another reader wrote: “One of the worst anthem renditions I have ever seen or heard. What a funeral durge. Too slow.” Hours later, this slam had a similarly imbalanced ratio of 1,058 thumbs in agreement and 248 in opposition.
Dissenting pro-Keys commenters responded in kind: “So…you are basically saying, ‘The song belongs to all of us— now do it the way I want.’”
But some would just as soon take the anthem out of the hands of celebrities in general, to end the alleged showboating. “Forget having all these music industry celebrities sing the national anthem from now on,” wrote a commenter. “Let’s have our military personnel sing it. They will sing it the proper way, and not with all the other b.s. added to it.”
Meanwhile, another contingent of haters had a problem with Keys sitting during the Anthem, even though it was at the piano as she played the song.
“It was disrespectful,” one morning show producer told The Huffington Post. “They had enough time and manpower to think of this before the performance. They could have had her stand at her piano keyboard and sing. To me and a lot of my friends, she sounded great but the visual was wrong.”
“Alicia is a proud American and was honored to perform at the event,” says a publicist who has worked with Keys. “Her slow version of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was her own arrangement, accompanying herself on the piano, adding ‘living in the home of the brave’ at the end of the song. It’s silly to see how that was being disrespectful.”
Some have assumed this is why the NFL is blocking video of Alicia singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The NFL, however, says the performance has been removed on copyright grounds. “The Star-Spangled Banner” is in the public domain, as it was written before copyright laws existed. However, artists can copyright their own arrangements of it. Whitney Houston did just that in 1991 after she performed a pre-recorded version of the song in the Super Bowl that year.
This has “nothing to do with the content of the performance but a rights issue,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, who added that NFL.com plans to post the video shortly.
USA Today is reporting that Keys’ piano rendition was the longest in Super Bowl history, clocking in at 156.4 seconds. Her version surpassed Natalie Cole’s milestone 152-second salute to the Stars and Stripes at the 1994 Super Bowl.
I tell you what the song is a tribute to America so I wish I could understand why people have so much to say about why she did this or why she did this or why she did that Did not sing the words correctly? I know she did so go kick rocks These haters are just mad they can’t carry a tune
n a bucket You go Alicia Jennifer and Bey all did a great job.All these punks mad because the Black girls rocked it OK
My thoughts on the anthem have absolutely NOTHING to do with the color of the skin of those who perform it. It’s not a ‘performance’ song. It’s an anthem. We are supposed to be able to sing WITH the presentation of the song. We can’t when someone turns it into a solo. So please just sing it ‘straight’ in the manner in which it was written, and let the rest of us sing along. And why yes, I can carry a tune, and yes, I’ve sung the anthem in a public arena before. And sung it straight. And sung it where others could sing it with me. It’s more powerful to ME when I hear others singing at the same time I am!
Oh please! Marvin Gaye caught the same flack for performing a slow, reggae style version of Star Spangled Banner. Frankly, I’m not a fan of Alicia Keys’ but hell, she sang it in a key that was comfortable for her. Now, if she sang it out of her vocal range, people would have been bitchin that she sounded terrible. And everybody can’t ‘sing’ along to the anthem. It’s a hard anthem to sing in the first place. Let one person sing it. That’s enough!
Backlash, what backlash? I mean really! Sometimes I’m amazed at just how stupid people really are, I really am. I guess those complaining never heard Marvin Gaye’s rendition, Marvin and Whitney Houston did it best in my opinion. Alicia Keys did very well singing this difficult song I didn’t have a problem with it. There’s no guessing who the real kooks are that’s doing all this complaining about how the national anthem should be sung……..Good job Alicia!
I too am tired to celebrities customizing the National Anthem and adding all this riffing. Alicia Keys is boorrring. All of her music is boorrring. She is so overrated as she simply replays and rearranges classical and other types of music and is somehow considered a genius. There is nothing that she sings that makes me want to move, dance, or nod my head. Simply boring! This girl is on fire!? Paleeze give me a break.
The media once again stirs the cauldron of controversy. IMHO, the star-spangled banner needs to be sung by someone wholly UNKNOWN every single time (and preferably the SAME individual).
JMHO, but Alicia Keys is a SONGWRITER, not a singer. She sings the WONDERFUL songs SHE writes. That’s what she does, and I love her for THAT ALONE. When I heard that SHE would be the one singing the national anthem, I was shocked and appalled. I did NOT like it at all.
Oh My!! I am a HUGE Alicia Keys fan , although I like her voice on her own songs , I did not like her version of the national anthem it was a bit too slow BUT that was the way she wanted to perform it, at least she did not SCREAM the anthem amd I respect that!!!
I’m not a fan of A. Keys…I think she screams too much for no reason. Her pitch is off key sometimes but I don’t think she did a bad job. I truly love Marvin Gaye and Whitney’s rendition.
Does any one remember Hendrix amazing version of Star Spangled Banner? People swore blasphemy, said how dare he. He was a service man that showed us all one of the great freedoms we have, the freedom to create art for good or bad. Let her enjoy the experience and remember you have the freedom to like or dislike as she has the right to sing the way she wishes.
At least she sang the damn song live. Go Alicia!!
Marvin Gaye did the song real slow, and I think it was the best I had ever heard. That’s my opinion.
Whitney’s version is still the best pre recorded or not it will stand as the best of all time IMO!!!
IMO as well. IMHO, it is the STANDARD, and nobody NEEDS to live up to it.
She did not stand…
The song was sung too slow…
Someone on Yahoo “dissed” her, and got more thumbs up than downs…
Someone else on Yahoo “dissed” her, and again got more thumbs up than downs…
Maybe there are some that could give a d*mn about clicking on a thumb! This is not a true indicator of who liked it more than not!
Someone says sing it the way it was written… I believe she did!
Some of these performers just can’t win!
I like her! I liked her performance!
She slowed it down so she could play along with it… her choice… her decision!
Crazy that performing artists can’t be what they are performing artists!
*** smh ***
Lady, in one word?…..BINGO!!!! The hate from YT AND each other?, is really trying to stifle OUR culture, talent, respect and individuality! Bottom line ….from the Oval Office to the stage…”We” are under attack!!!!! And mofos would do well to WTF up!!!, stop helping massa & kill ole Willie Lynch once & for all!!!! Shyt is KRA!!!!!
So…..why didn’t We or ANYone have a “prollum”, with the WB who flipped MJ’s Billy Jean!?? Two reasons….”We don’t trip/aren’t as insecure about these things & ….Whites feel that if it ain’t the “White” way?, it ain’t the “right way! And if Alicia had been a “Becky”?, they would praising the SHYT outta huh, JUST like they did that….”WB” doing MJ’s shyt! The hypocrisy in this racist country is a fkn…..trrrrrrrrrrIP!!!!
Oh and the REAL reason?…”We” ain’t considered…..Americans!!! So “awe have to leave “their” shyt alone!, while they can change steal the SHYt outta …..Our’s!! Chuuuuuch!!
That’s What she said!
And something else……if you reeeeally look at the shyt?, I mean “reeeeeeally” look at it?, you’ll that this is based in insecurity,jealousy and…fear!! Much in the same way Black Quarterbacks were hated (some still are!!) ‘on!! They were afraid We would “change the game”?, & WE DID!!! So now we come to the NA, & YT is afraid “We” will flip the shyt so tuff?, that THEY won’t be able to do the shyt as well!! See…..once the new way is popular?, “going back” ain’t a fkn option ie….”JORDAN”!!!! So……”I” feel they….are…..just……scurrrrrrrrd, “scurrrrrrd as usual”. BS!
Well at least she knew all the words,..most celebrity singers forget & flub the words while performing.
Alicia Keys is a great hummanitarian and a great entertainer . People need to wake up and realize it’s about the hearts condition . Relax and let your mind be free .
Sing it like the white man who penned it. Pass an Ammendment to this.
We also don’t like a “soul” version of O’ Canada.