Is the Super Bowl National Anthem Really Performed Live?
Lady Gaga sings the national anthem at Super Bowl 50 at Levi's Stadium on Feb. 7, 2016, in Santa Clara, California.
The Super Bowl national anthem performances are often as memorable as the Super Bowl Halftime Shows are.
While Halftime performances are often full of choreography and visual bombast, performances of "The Star-Spangled Banner" are a showcase for vocal ability—and it's a not an easy song to sing.
As a result of many performances seeming almost too pitch-perfect, a lot of audiences wonder: Is the Super Bowl national anthem really performed live?
Well, the answer is a little bit complicated.
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Is the Super Bowl national anthem really performed live?
To put it simply: Sort of, usually.
Most performers really do sing live, but they also have a pre-recorded backing track just in case of sound snafus.
This was the case with the most iconic Super Bowl national anthem performance of all time, Whitney Houston's soaring 1991 rendition. A recording was used from Houston's first take in the studio, which was broadcast during the big game.
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Ricky Minor, who produced several Super Bowl performances, including Houston's, explained to TODAY, "I never shy away from someone questioning anything that was done, or how it was done. Could I have said that it was live-live? Yes, but then when do you stop trying to gloss something over? It is what it is. And there's no doubt that Whitney sang it. So my answer to that, my response to that immediately was, 'Yes, she sang live. But we used the track for the audio.'"
Minor also said that Jennifer Hudson's performance at the 2009 Super Bowl was also pre-recorded.
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He told the Associated Press at the time, "It's a prerecording of her. "The 'fakeness' is that it's not really live, not that it's not really her."
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Is the Super Bowl national anthem pre-recorded?
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A back-up pre-recorded version of the national anthem is required for all Super Bowl performances since 1993. The reason? Garth Brooks almost walked out before his performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Jan. 31, 1993.
Brooks reportedly had a disagreement with producers, who he requested also premiere his music video for "We Shall Be Free," along with his performance. The video featured footage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and burning American flags, which the NFL dubbed as way too controversial for their broadcast. Jon Bon Jovi, who was at the stadium to watch the game, was almost tagged in at the last minute to replace Brooks until they resolved their issues.
Brooks performed the song without a hitch with actress Marlee Matlin at his side interpreting the lyrics in American sign language. But ever since then, the NFL has required all artists performing the national anthem at the Super Bowl to provide a pre-recorded rendition in case of snafus like this one.
Another reason for pre-recording Super Bowl national anthem performances is audio quality.
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"There's too many variables to go live. I would never recommend any artist go live because the slightest glitch would devastate the performance," Minor told the Associated Press.
Outdoor venues have a lot of elements at play: Weather (rain and wind can be a nightmare on a microphone), temperature changes, planes flying overhead, fans being absurdly loud—and those concerns are further amplified at the Super Bowl, which is only temporarily set up for a musical performance with limited load-in and break-down times.
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Another variable? Sometimes, artists get sick! Pink was getting over the flu during her Super Bowl national anthem performance in 2018, and you can actually see her remove a lozenge from her mouth just before belting out her first note. While she could obviously still carry a tune (the woman is a pro), the requisite pre-recorded backing track likely provided a comforting insurance policy in case her sore throat persisted badly.
