Super Bowl XLVIII: Reba McEntire sings National Anthem

We knew in advance of Super Bowl XLVIII that we would have a chance to see a memorable National Anthem via Reba McEntire. Did it live up to the hype?

Before we go too much further in this article, we suppose that we should really start by mentioning why there was so much hype in the first place. We are talking here about an iconic country singer, someone known across generations and genres. In a lot of ways, you can argue that this is the perfect sort of person that CBS and the NFL could pick for this particular honor. She has a near-universal approval rating, and is even a familiar face on TV as of late thanks to her work as a coach on The Voice.

Of course, we do also know that there is no performance out there more routinely scrutinized than “The Star-Spangled Banner,” in part because of 1) the familiarity that comes with the song and 2) the fact that more than 100 million people are watching. Even if you nail the vocals, there are going to be people out there who forget about it 20 minutes later. That is just the unfortunate nature of the beast in a lot of ways.

So how did Reba do? By and large amazing … not that we imagine that this was much of a surprise. She hit all the high notes while accompanied by a band and a military drummer. Reba is a consummate performer, so she knew how to deliver this and bring enthusiasm to the crowd. There was a ton that was going on here.

The only thing that was weird? How little we actually saw of Reba in between all the cutaways to various other people in the stadium — plus also the Las Vegas Sphere outside!

Related – Get more news about the performance of “America the Beautiful” tonight

What did you think about Reba McEntire’s performance of the National Anthem during Super Bowl XLVIII?

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