I'm real picky when it comes to pop stars singing the National Anthem at sports events. Too many artists tend to oversing, over-emote and occasionally turn it into a Patti LaBelle-esque shriek-a-thon. That said, I don't expect everyone to sing the song exactly note for note — as a tune, it's pretty lame — so it's cool when performers take a certain amount of license.
Last Sunday, I saw pop star/American Idol winner Jordin Sparks tackle the anthem at the NFC Championship Game. She nailed it, gave the song just the right amount of extra oomph, hit some stratospheric notes, bent a few phrases gospel-style and generally raised the hairs on my neck. Right after she finished, play-by-play announcer Joe Buck let out a "Wow!"
Sparks is in town for Super Bowl week, and last night I had a chance to do a quick interview with her as makeup and hair artists dolled her up for a charity performance at Roy's restaurant in Tampa. The bubbly 20-year-old gave me a panicked look when I asked if we could talk a few minutes about her approach to singing the National Anthem in cavernous stadiums.
"What?" she asked. I repeated my request, and she said, relieved, "Oh, I thought you said you wanted me to sing the National Anthem."
Sparks agreed that some artists overdo it. "Sometimes I'll see it and I'm like, 'OK, it's not about you,'" she said. "If you're out there singing the National Anthem, you've got enough talent to do it, so just go out there and sing the song as best you can — without butchering it."
Her approach: "I remember when I first started doing sports events, I thought, 'When I sing it, I don't want to make it into a pop song,' but I did want to put emotion into it — like how I would feel if I was the one standing there seeing that flag still standing amid all the bombs, feeling that sense of pride. I try to emote that, to get that in there.
"But it's not about me, not about me at all. I always feel so honored to sing the National Anthem. It's our national song. I think I get the most nervous when I sing it, because if I suck, noboby's gonna let me live it down."
Sparks sang "The Star Spangled Banner" at last year's Super Bowl. (Jennifer Hudson gets the honor this year.) Here's a video of Sparks' performance last Sunday at the NFC Championship Game.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2009.