Beyonce lip-synched 'Star Spangled Banner' for Obama inauguration
Say it ain't so, Beyonce... The pop icon lip-synched her rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony. Previously a rumor (Bey sounded a bit too perfect), a spokesperson for the Marin Corps Band confirmed that Beyonce's performance had been pre-recorded.
The entire ceremony, in a sense, was a prerecording: both Obama and VP Joe Biden took their oaths of office on January 20.
It's standard practice to pre-record the music to the inaugural ceremony performances: temperature and humidity can play havoc with musical instruments. Just ask Yo-Yo Ma.
However, the decision to go with Beyonce's pre-recorded vocal track was arrived upon in the 11th hour. Spokesperson Kristin DuBois asserts that the Marine Corps Band played live, and that only the vocal track was canned:
“We did pre-record it and it was Beyoncé’s decision at the last minute to go with the pre-recorded version,” said a spokeswoman for the band.
Beyonce only rehearsed the night before the performance with the Marine Corps Band. Either she thought she'd be alright on the night, or had planned a pre-recorded version from the beginning.
Top of the Pops has a deep history of lip-synched performances, which artists took great relish in mocking.
Your reactions to Beyonce lip-synch revelation
Back to the inauguration, though: how did you feel when you discovered that Beyonce's rendition of the National Anthem was lip-synched? Did you feel disappointed? Betrayed? Amused? Did you even care?
I guess the Beyonce performance was as real as her songwriting credits.
— Bradley Stern (@MuuMuse) January 22, 2013
McCain already calling for watergate-style commission on Beyonce.
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) January 22, 2013
But yeah, Beyonce ripping out her earpiece and Michelle's eye roll are probably more important than perpetual drone warfare.
— kottke.org (@kottke) January 22, 2013
all my mom could talk about yesterday was how good Beyonce was, now that we know it was pre-recorded she's absolutely furious
— Rony Chammas (@ronychammas) January 22, 2013
(We should've known from that weird prom queen gleam in her eye at the beginning of the song that Beyoncé was about to bamboozle us.)
— Dwayne Rodgers (@DiggsWayne) January 22, 2013
So typical Beyoncé. Instead of just admitting that she wouldn't be live she adds ridiculous embellishments like ripping her earpiece out
— ANDREW (@andr3wthomas) January 22, 2013
Beyonce also birth-synced her baby. Still waiting on the definition of "birth-synced" but I'm pretty sure it's a thing and she did it.
— Travon Free (@Travon) January 22, 2013
