In the Music Mix’s continuing coverage of sports, we now turn to last night’s NFL season opener between… Nevermind, I can’t keep up this ruse and be bothered to even do a quick search to see who was playing last night. So let’s just get to the EW connection: Songstress Colbie Caillat provided the pre-kickoff National Anthem for the first official game of the NFL season! Woo! And disclaimer: I’m already a huge Colbie fan (“Fallin’ For You” gets me every time!). But I have to say, she did a deliriously nice job with her guitar-laced, sorta countrified, lilting, delicate version of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It’s totally Colbie! Totally not lip-synched! And totally…NFL kickoff worthy? You decide:
What’d you think? Did you catch it live on TV last night? Do you like Colbie’s version of our National Anthem? If not, who has done it better in the past? Lemme know in the comments below!
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I thought she did OK; better than the screeching that some female singers do.
BTW, the Saints beat the Vikings. Yay!
It was the Saints (Superbowl champs!) v. the Vikings and the Saints won (woohoo!).
Anyway, I love love Colbie but this was not the song for her. She has a beautiful voice but what she did to the anthem, while yes certainly all her own style, did not sound good IMO.
I thought it was bad. You could tell in the beginning that their timing was off. Should have practiced the song more.
Sadly, I have to agree with Big Wait. I LUV me some Colbie Caillat, but this version of this song just sounded off and the timing was definitely to blame. Bummer.
I didn’t like it.
I agree the timing was a bit to blame (you could tell they figured it out as the song went on and it sounded better), but I still didn’t like the way she styled it in the first place. It just didn’t sound right for that particular song.
It’s not that CC is not a good singer but really made a mess of the Anthem. Plus-what does she or the other artists who “sang” as part of the pre-game really have anything to do with Football. Give me Hank!!! (For those newbies. . . yeah – he’s Monday Night Football)
Yeah, but this was a Thursday telecast of Sunday Night Football. Hank can’t perform without ESPN’s permission since they own the MNF brand right now.
She’s a good singer but this was not the song for her.
LAME – she was off key, off phrasing and out of breath. I imagine she was very nervous but still – the Nat’l Anthem at a football game needs to be big and brassy. Her performance was just … flat. I was there! It was really a boring performance -
I thought she did a very good job.
I agree Scott. It was different, and laid back. I really enjoyed it.
HAD TO BE THE BEST VERSION OF S-S-B I HAVE EVER HEARD SANG AT A SPORTING EVENT
The National Anthem is not the song for folk rock guitar accompanying her singing. It was awful and I actually like her music. Her voice was too weak and she could not hit the high notes. Singing aside, she should have wore a more flattering outfit. She looked liked she had been cleaning her house and ran over to the stadium to sing. Why was she picked anyway?
Please refrain from “covering’ sports in this column–you desecrtae all that is holy in this world by dismissing the blessed opening of another NFL season with such a superb game, which was a rematch of the excellent NFC championship teams from last year. Who listens to the anthem at the beginning anyway? That’s just your “last call’ signal to make sure you’ve already hit the head and gotten your snax.
Well said BethB.
I have no problem with the music person talking about whoever sings the anthem (it is a music blog after all)…but to actually DISMISS these two stellar teams and say you can’t be bothered to look up who played…WTF?!?! They’re shown right there in that clip you posted! That’s just lazy and rude.
sorry–”desecrate”.
I’m sorry but did anyone notice that she messed up the actual words to the athem? I’m all for originality and I think she has a great voice, but if she can’t sing it correctly then she shouldn’t have sang it at all.
When I was watching it live I thought she messed up the words.
Are you kidding? It was terrible. I always thought she was good, but obviously, she is a computer enhanced singer like Taylor Swift. Without the surrounding noise and pitch adjusting computer they just can’t sing. Colbie also has got a very weak voice. She’s beautiful, just can’t sing.
It was HORRIBLE. Our national anthem is not meant to be a TOP 40 hit. No need to put a spin on it. It’s a patriotic song!
One of the worst renditions of our national anthem ever! Sure the words were for the Star Spangled banner, but the music was not! I hate it when “artist” want to change something that doesn’t need to be changed, sing it right! Sing it the way it was written!!
I liked this version of The National Anthem, but I didn’t feel it was appropriate to kick off an entire season of NFL football. There was so much talk before the game about rehabilitating New Orleans’ musicians that maybe an amazing local artist would have done better.
I think it would have sounded better if they would just let an average person(not a recording artist) sing it.I do have to say I could not follow along because she messed up the words and it sounded horrible!!
I will admit to never hearing of Colbie Caillat (sorry!)….but I was very moved by her lovely rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. It was beautiful in its quietness and subtlety. Not all loud and bombastic. But for those same reasons, I really don’t understand how that works for the opening kickoff to the NFL Season in New Orleans, which has its own unique flavor of music. Harry Connick Jr, should have just continued on and sang it right then and there. Although, I will be checking out Colbie’s music, now!