Rachel Platten has apologized for messing up the national anthem — not once, but twice — saying her “mind just went blank.”
“I feel really embarrassed, honestly. I’m having a hard time forgiving myself, but I’m working on it. It was incredibly, incredibly embarrassing,” Platten told People. “I’ve been trying to retrace steps of what happened … it has just been hanging over me.”
She added, “I have done it a bunch of times, but I stepped in front of the people and I felt the expectation. I was ready to open up and do it, and my mind just went blank. I was trying to explain it to my husband: It was like a test that you know all the material to, you study so much and you get in there, and your mind doesn’t cooperate.”
Platten, who is married to Kevin Lazan, performed the national anthem before Game 1 of the 2016 World Series.
“I was so nervous going into it. The anthem is such a big deal; it’s probably the most important song for our country,” she said. “I always get nervous because it means so much because it is so powerful. I always want to do it justice, do a good job and give people the exact version they expect and they want.”
On Saturday, the 36-year-old singer, best known for “Fight Song,” was set to perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah before the NWSL soccer game between the Utah Royals and the Chicago Red Stars.
However, she had to restart the anthem twice because she forgot the words, according to multiple media reports. She nervously grinned at the audience at times, at which point they chimed in to help. Many fans tweeted that she still messed up the lyrics her third time around.
omg did rachel platten actually fuck up the national anthem
Between #RachelPlatten screwing up the National Anthem 3 times (including wrong lyrics) and #Lifetime cutting to #DanceMoms several times during the beginning… Bad day for #NWSL. They deserve better…
It was awkward. Rachel Platten at the #URFC match. She was asking for help with opening line after the 2nd try, then sang it wrong a 3rd time & just kept going
“I’m trying to practice what I’ve been preaching: If I’m telling my fans to love yourself no matter what, I owe myself the same thing even though it’s really hard right now,” she said. “I’m human. This was a humongous and embarrassing mistake, but it was a mistake. My mind just wasn’t cooperating.”
She added, “I was proud that I was able to finish … I actually can’t believe I didn’t forget more words and that I was able to complete the song. So I’m kind of shocked. What I’m not going to do is run away. I really want to run out of the stadium right now, but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to finish this song.'”
On Sunday, Platten also took to social media to apologize for the flub. Watch another video of her performance above.
still feeling so embarrassed about this. I'm so sorry to everyone – once again.https://t.co/69mGL9t88N
13 Worst Celebrity National Anthem Performances of All Time, From Roseanne to Steven Tyler (Videos)
Believe it or not, Roseanne Barr wasn’t trying to be funny when she screeched her way through the National Anthem in 1990. She told the LA Times she was flattered and that she was a good singer. But she failed to take Johnny Carson’s advice and started too high. The boos come loud and fast, but like any comic who’s bombed before, she barrel rolled through her ear-piercing, crotch-grabbing rendition in a little over a minute, then spat on the mound.
This performance by Carl Lewis before a Chicago Bulls game seems almost inexplicable, because he’s not a singer but an Olympic track and field star. He murdered Francis Scott Off-Key’s song, as these ESPN broadcasters put it, in failing to hit the high notes and apologizing midway through with an intent to make it up to the crowd (he never could). He later told Oprah he was “glad” he botched it.
Fresh off their 2001 album “Just Push Play,” people were “Jaded” after seeing Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler try and spruce up the National Anthem, first by riffing on harmonica, then essentially shouting through the performance. He doesn’t even sing “brave” at the end of the song, opting to call out to the Indy 500 crowd as fireworks went off. In 2012, he also earned some groans when he belted out his throaty "yeaaahhh" during the song.
Lead singer of alt-rock band Staind Aaron Lewis delivered a relatively strong, growling rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” but early on he missed the line “at the twilight’s last gleaming.” He said in a statement he felt devastated, asking for “the Nation’s forgiveness” by saying “nerves got the best of me.”
Christina Aguilera likewise nailed her pitch but found herself doubling back to “the twilight’s last gleaming” rather than moving on to “gallantly streaming.” Maybe she doesn’t nail the last note, but she still performed like a pro.
The incredible echo you can hear in this video would’ve been enough to doom Michael Bolton’s crooning of the Anthem at this 2003 Red Sox vs. Yankees game, but Bolton had to stop and peek at lyrics scrawled in his palm in order to remember “twilight’s last gleaming,” and the Boston fans let him have it.
Clearly the 20-year-old Dominican pop star Kat DeLuna put a lot of bluster and verve into her performance of “The Star Spangled Banner.” The eye test would make you think she’s killing it. But a pitchy last note and a chorus of boos from this Dallas Cowboys crowd would disagree.
Maybe this one isn’t bad so much as perplexing. Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea performed a solo, phased out performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” at Staples Center this past April for Kobe Bryant’s farewell game that drew mixed reaction. Compare that to when he formed a bizarre duet with Josh Groban singing the Anthem back in 2010.
Maybe she would’ve been better of singing “O Canada”? Canadian jazz singer Alexis Normand’s mind went completely blank as she fumbled words left and right to the Anthem that she ended up humming the remainder of the song. Thankfully the crowd was polite enough to bail her out.
Country star Dierks Bentley received no mercy online after performing the anthem ahead of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals in June 2017: "Sounded like the drunk guy at the bar trying to be in tune," wrote one commenter.
Rachel Platten, best known for "Fight Song," messed up the national anthem not once, but twice, while performing before the NWSL soccer game between the Utah Royals and the Chicago Red Stars in April. She forgot the words and had to start over, asking the crowd for help.
Fergie got ripped for her rendition before the NBA All-Star Game in February 2018: "Fergie sang that Anthem so bad, Kaepernick stood up and told her not to disrespect the Anthem like that."
Two years later, Chaka Khan raised eyebrows with her own rendition of the anthem at the 2020 NBA All-Star Game. "I'm sitting here wondering how many hours Chaka Khan spent watching Fergie's National Anthem performance and said, 'Hold my beer bitch,'" teased sports radio jock Josh Beard.
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How will Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church sound in their duet for 2021’s Super Bowl?
Believe it or not, Roseanne Barr wasn’t trying to be funny when she screeched her way through the National Anthem in 1990. She told the LA Times she was flattered and that she was a good singer. But she failed to take Johnny Carson’s advice and started too high. The boos come loud and fast, but like any comic who’s bombed before, she barrel rolled through her ear-piercing, crotch-grabbing rendition in a little over a minute, then spat on the mound.
