Mickey Guyton Belts Out the National Anthem at Super Bowl 2022
14.02.2022 - 02:49
/ usmagazine.com
Kicking off the night the right way! Mickey Guyton showed off her vocal chops when she performed the national anthem at Super Bowl LVI on Sunday, February 13.
The country music star, 38, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams faced off at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Her performance followed Jhené Aiko’s rendition of “America the Beautiful,” while Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and Mary J. Blige will team up to headline the halftime show.
Guyton was backed up by a choir as she belted out the national anthem on Sunday. She displayed her vocal range but made her performance seem effortless from start to finish.
The NFL announced on February 1 that Guyton was set to perform the national anthem. “Look at God,” she tweeted following the news. “I am shook, I am grateful, I am praise dancing. … So excited to be singing the national anthem at #SBLVI on February 13th!”
The “Black Like Me” singer had experience with “The Star-Spangled Banner” prior to her Super Bowl rendition. In fact, she told the Los Angeles Times earlier this month that she was known as the “national anthem girl” in high school.
“The national anthem is my song,” she elaborated. “The first time I sung it was at a basketball game when I was 13, and I kept my eyes closed the whole time. But then they asked me to sing at every game after that.”
The song is partly responsible for inspiring Guyton to become a musician in the first place. Seeing LeAnn Rimes’ version of the anthem at a baseball game when the Texas native was a child sparked her interest in country music, and listening to Whitney Houston’s interpretation showed her that Black women could thrive in the industry.
“It’s so full circle,” she