So did anyone hear the national anthem at the home run derby today? I was tempted to mention this in the Dylan thread, but I didn’t want to hijack it.
It was the worst rendition I’ve ever heard and having been involved in kids’ sports that’s saying a lot. I guess the woman is an award winning country singer. A couple people in the Dylan thread might say she sounded, real. Umm yeah she sounded real bad. If I was her I’d be tempted to hide under my bed for a month or 3.
On reddit, the first response was:
“That’s the second assassination attempt on America this week.”
The first reply to that was:
“And both targeted the ears.”
Everybody must get stoned. Like her.
Yeah. The commentator said that the singer had been Grammy-nominated. I noticed that he didn’t say that she was a Grammy winner.
And after hearing her version of the anthem, I find it hard to believe she could even be nominated for a Grammy. She was that bad. There are better singers at dive bar karaoke.
Her Wikipedia page has already been updated.
I guess my question to those who’ve heard her perform in other circumstances, is she usually a good singer? If so I really feel bad for her because that was bad. Yes, the anthem is a difficult piece, but I have never heard it mangled quite that spectacularly.
I’d not heard of her, but below is the song that was her first hit. She doesn’t have a bad voice, IMO, but I’m not sure how big her vocal range is (and the Star-Spangled Banner has a wide range), so that might have been part of the issue. The second link below has a recording of her singing tonight, and trying to reach the high notes seemed to be a big part part of her problem.
It also sounds, to me, like she was trying to add ornamentation in the high parts, which worked poorly. I’d lean towards “didn’t practice it enough,” and "tried to get fancy with it, when a straight rendition is difficult enough.
Here is the update:
On July 15, 2024, Andress performed the national anthem at the 2024 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The performance was widely panned by both online forums and professional critics alike, with USA Today describing it as “for lack of a better word-cringeworthy”.
Just listened to it. THAT WAS HORRENDOUS.
Just sing the damn song, people.
When was the last time someone who “just [sang] the damn song” went viral, though?
Do you want things to go viral for the wrong reasons, though?
Oh that can’t be that bad. It’s just people exaggerating.
watches the video in the post above
Oh. Oh no. Ohhhhh my no that is horrible. I was actually physically cringing at that.
Holy cow, was she drunk?
Oh, yeah I was in the kitchen putting groceries away. I was talking to my daughter, and the sound just jumped out at me. I went to watch it with Hubster, and asked him who it was. My daughter commented, “I’m not the best singer around but even I could do better.” I told her it was a low bar, and even her (daughter’s dogs) could do better.
I, personally, would have stopped and left the venue. I really think giving up on the high notes at the end would have retained some of her dignity. Poor kid. 
I read speculation that she was using autotune and it was set to the wrong key.
That doesn’t explain the screeching and cracking. Autotune is repulsive, and shouldn’t be used in place of your own voice, but I don’t think it could be that miraculous.
Lol!
This is what happens when “singers” who are ordinarily autotuned have to sing on their own.
Like I said, there are ordinary karaoke singers, who are not autotuned, who could have done a much better job.
“Now, to honor America, please welcome the Touchdown Sports Bar Singers …”
They would have done a better job.
Thing is, she started out low enough that even trained (and many untrained) male tenors could have hit that C# high note, let alone any female alto or 2nd soprano. She just plain can’t carry a tune without autotuning.
Yes, and seemingly unable to transition out of her chest voice. I blame that weirdly awful style of singing that she and other female vocalists affect nowadays.
Certainly! With their ears plugged, and laryngitis.
Right. I’m a bass, and I can sing it, and I can hit the top notes if I try and with practice. Maybe not on the first performance, but if I was going to sing the American national anthem before a sports event, I’d sure as hell practice it a lot.
Ironically, I’m not even American. I know “The Star Spangled Banner” though, due to being a sports fan, and hearing it often enough before football, baseball, hockey, and basketball games. The trick to the American anthem, especially if you’re me with my low bass voice, is to key it down low enough that you can hit the high notes, which if you key it down low enough, aren’t actually that high.
This girl had no idea what key she was in, or was going for. She was looking for autotune to save her, and it just wasn’t there. Frankly, I doubt she knows anything about music theory, or music in general. If we sat her down at a piano, would she be able to play anything, even if provided with sheet music?