The five-time Grammy award winning singer, in her second appearance at a Super Bowl, seemed to struggle halfway through the song, when she reportedly botched the lyrics.
As the
Chicago Sun-Times reported: "When she was supposed to sing the line 'O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?' she instead repeated an earlier line, with a slight variation. She sang 'What so proudly we watched at the twilight’s last gleaming,' which is the same line from earlier in the song but with the word ‘watched’ instead of the word ‘hailed'."
The lyrics can be found on
Wikipedia and
here.
"This was the biggest performance of her career and she blew it," reported
PopEater sources. To mess up the lyrics was a disaster." PopEater reports " the televised roars of the crowds weren't as loud in person. A hush fell over the stadium and everyone was looking at each other," when Aguilera botched the lyrics.
"Well, at least we know she sang it live," said
Zap2it. Who pointed out "The National Anthem at the Super Bowl is typically pre-recorded."
After completing the National Anthem, PopEater reported "Aguilera headed backstage where she appeared to be devastated by her performance. She knows she messed up big time. It's an honor to be asked and she let America and herself down. She doesn't want anyone around her. Everyone telling her she was great but she knows the truth."
"Aguilera, who is has much experience in singing the National Anthem perfectly, held the final note - "brave" - for just over six seconds in her trademark guttaral growl, but even that wasn't enough to save her rough start, said the
NY Daily News.
While bloggers make light of the lyrics flub, commenter's on YouTube are divided on the mistake.
Digital Journal and others have reported on her magnificent soulful performance. It appears from the collective news reports that many didn't even notice the error in the lyrics that has Twitter on fire.
Aguilera's representative did not immediately return a call and e-mail seeking comment from the Chicago Sun-Times.
