Unofficially, at least, the United States has three national anthems now, not just one … which allowed three musical all-star artists — Mickey Guyton, Jhené Aiko and Mary Mary — to shine in the immediate run-up to Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles Sunday.
Much-lauded country singer Guyton was in pole position just before the game to sing “The Star Spangled Banner,” as she has on many occasions before. Although a pianist was seen, Guyton’s version was for all intents and purposes a cappella, joined by a choir shortly before she gave Francis Scott Key’s tune a galvanizing key change.
.@MickeyGuyton’s incredible rendition of the National Anthem! #SBLVI pic.twitter/G6099dDz1U
— NFL (@NFL) February 13, 2022
In a way, Guyton’s appearance was an act of symbolic consolidation, on top of just picking the rare current name act who’s capable of the vocal job. Last year, “The Star Spangled Banner” was sung before the Super Bowl by a country star (Eric Church) and a Black woman (Jazmine Sullivan). This year, they got all those things in one bravura package.
Guyton — who is nominated for three awards at the upcoming Grammys — has said that she was known as “the national anthem girl” growing up in Texas, singing it regularly from the time she was 13. “The national anthem is my song,” she told the Los Angeles Times, noting that she’d first been prompted to think about tackling music by seeing LeAnn Rimes deliver it before a pro game, and been further inspired to follow her dream as a person of color by seeing Whitney Houston’s now-legendary version.
The other two performers involved in the preliminaries, R&B singer Jhené Aiko and gospel duo Mary Mary, are both L.A.-area natives. In fact, as the NBC announcers pointed out, the sisters of Mary Mary hail from Inglewood, where the spanking new SoFi Stadium is situated.
“America the Beautiful” lived up to the adjective in its title, thanks to Aiko, who unexpectedly delivered the classic less with the not-so-R&B-leaning spin of a harpist.
.@JheneAiko performs America the Beautiful! #SBLVI pic.twitter/QtTOcG4nSA
— NFL (@NFL) February 13, 2022
“America the Beautiful” has not always been a Super Bowl staple; it became part of the pregame ceremony only starting in 2009. There has been some call over the years for Francis Scott Key’s anthem to be replaced with this less warlike song, but the compromise that America seemingly has accepted is to have both songs performed before the most important sporting events… often joined at football games by “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a 1900 hymn that began to be regarded as a Black national anthem as early as the 1910s.
"Lift Every Voice and Sing" performed by @therealmarymary and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles. #SBLVI pic.twitter/sSMChwngEn
— NFL (@NFL) February 13, 2022
Mary Mary performed outside SoFi Stadium, making use of L.A.’s abundant sunshine (and presumably being toweled off by makeup artists in the record-breaking heat) for an especially scenic rendition of the song, accompanied by the L.A. Phil’s Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (aka YOLA), conducted by Thomas Wilkins.
