Jennifer Hudson And The National Anthem
Every website I go to today all are talking about how Jennifer Hudson was amazing and how this National Anthem was as good as Whitney Houston's rendition and on and on. Hey, I was thrilled that Jennifer Hudson was back again and performing in public and I will be anxious to see her perform on the Grammy Awards and wish her nothing but the best. I think for her to come out in front of worldwide coverage like that after the tragedy in her family was really hard.
Now, with all of that being said, let me point out that the Anthem was lip - synced. She sang it the week before in a recording studio. The guy who runs the pre-game show for the NFL is also the music director for American Idol. Hello. Why do you think Jordin Sparks got to lip-sync it last year. Anyway, he said that Jennifer recorded it last week and that was the track that was played.
It is not Jennifer's fault and I have no doubts she could have pulled it off. The NFL requires the singer to provide a recording a week before the game just in case of some unforeseen event.
So, when people say it was the most amazing thing ever and blah, blah, blah, just remember that Whitney sang live and absolutely killed it. Jennifer was great, but it was from a recording studio.
sorry enty, but you're wrong.
ReplyDeletewhitney did not sing live.
mariah did not sing live.
nobody has sung it live in years.
It may not have been the Super Bowl, but I know for a fact Roseanne Barr sang the Anthem live. ;)
ReplyDeletemooshki, i'm sure we could come up with a huge list of national anthems sung live, but the norm for the super bowl in recent years has been pre-recorded.
ReplyDeleteor maybe the operative word is 'singer' not 'super bowl'. ;P
ReplyDeleteOK, I get it, but why insist on dragging that fact out and harping on it? Does it even matter? The fact that she can sing like that at all when her heart must be so broken is still amazing to me.
ReplyDeleteRecorded or live...I STILL remember Whitney's rendition. I don't think I'll remember JH's down the road, even though it was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI still think Whitney's the best (or at least herself fifteen years ago was).
ReplyDeletei think J-Hud deserves a great big pass on this one. she's obviously talented, and the national anthem is a really difficult song. live or memorex, she's awesome in my book for just having pulled together whatever inner strength she pulled together and got out there. good for her. god bless that girl.
ReplyDeleteMolly, if you didn't get that joke, you need to YouTube Roseanne's "performance" asap.
ReplyDeletemooshki, i remember it and don't have to youtube it. that was a joke? i missed it.
ReplyDeletei particularly liked the part where she grabbed her crotch and spit, by the way...lol.
ReplyDeleteIt might have been a good thing that it was recorded, Hudson looked awfully jittery before she started singing, err, "singing".
ReplyDeleteEnt, sorry babydoll, but I think you're wrong about Whitney singing live. This morning's radio said that due to noise and echo in a stadium, it's wise to record. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with it other than it ruins the sick hope that somebody forgets the words.
ReplyDeleteI teared up when Jennifer belted out the last notes.
As others have mentioned Whitney did not sing it live however she nailed it and sang it better than anyone I've heard. I think it was at the All-Star game and not at the Super Bowl.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, do they always sing America the Beautiful in addition to the Star Bangled Banner at the game? We had the sound off when Faith Hill came on and then we were really confused when JHud started singing.
Well, the Boss sang live at his half time show. So how come he can, and like the previous year Tom Petty also. But these singers can't pull off the anthem live?
ReplyDeleteHmmmm......
cheryl - it was the super bowl. it's probably still up on youtube.
ReplyDeleteTotally believe it was lip-synched, but for such a close-up she did a killer job faking it.
ReplyDeleteI also teared up at the end.
She's absolutely beautiful and IMO can sing a hell of a lot better than Beyonce, live or fake.
Enty I agree with 100%. Even if Whitney did lip sync the National Anthem I prefer her version of it.
ReplyDeleteI wish they would explain why the National Anthem is lip synched but not the half time performance.
I was just glad she didn't pull any vocal 'acrobatics', cause that shit is getting old. I'm looking at you Mariah & Christina.
ReplyDeleteDitto..."I wish they would explain why the National Anthem is lip synched but not the half time performance."
ReplyDeleteanyone know?
kimmypie, i think it's because the performers are doing songs they've done a million times and even if they goof up, who will know?
ReplyDeletenational anthem - rarely sung - you're singing alone. if you bomb, everyone will be talking about it for weeks. if not the rest of your career.
Also, people get very offended if something goes wrong with the National Anthem. I think it's considered 'impatriotic.'
ReplyDeletePlus its kind of fun watching old farts like Springsteen get winded during the first song.
ReplyDeleteThe Star Spangled Banner is extremely difficult to sing. Usually, you have to start lower than your normal range. Otherwise, at the end of the song, you might end up screeching like a banchee. Bad scene. Plus, Bruce is with a band that he works with on a regular basis. They jam together and know each other's quirks. Anyway, i don't think people expect his vocals to be perfect. They just want him to rock.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Lisa--I like the use of "melisma" when the divas sing their own songs or something open to interpretation, but I rather hear our National Anthem sung with %100 traditional respect.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a contest to see who can eff it up the worst, but some of the singers try these days.
Whitney didn't sing it live either!
ReplyDeletei still lmao at the way mariah sang
ReplyDeleteohhhhhhh saayyyyy does thaaaat
star spango bannnnnnneeeeeerrrr
yeeeet waaaaaaave
wtf is spango?
Along with the rest, Whitney wasn't live either. Boomie killed it and I think she smoked Whitney with her performance. Jennifer Hudson>Whitney the crackhead.
ReplyDeletei heard plenty of acrobatics in this performance, and didn't like it. just once, i'd like to hear ONE person just sing the damn song already and stop trying to change it.
ReplyDeletebeyonce did that when she said 'america the beautiful.' she just sang it and it was great.
there's a lot of echo in a stadium, making the anthem doubly difficult. the singer can really screw themselves up because their own words echo back to them.
ReplyDeleterock (etc.) bands have their own sound equipment and are used to playing large venues.
believe it or not, i think it was barry manilow talking about that many, many years ago.
Whitney Houston lip-synced too.
ReplyDeleteCheck for yourself. The Chicago Tribune discussed this today, too:
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2009/02/did-jennifer-hudson-lipsync-super-bowl-anthem.html
She has some killer pipes for sure.. live or not, she still SANG it and it was amazing.
ReplyDeleteThey also might lyp-synch the National Anthem at the Super Bowl in order to get it exactly coordinated with the fighter jet flyover. You want the planes coming over exactly on cue, and if the singer dawdles, or is in a hurry, the planes are not coing to be there at the right time.
ReplyDeletebrenda said...
ReplyDeletePlus its kind of fun watching old farts like Springsteen get winded during the first song.
Brenda, anyone who's ever seen Springsteen live could tell you just how wrong you are. He'll be 60 this year and he still does a minimum of 2-1/2 hours each concert, high energy all the way. Far from getting winded, I doubt if he even got warmed up.