There were no flubbed lyrics, and no screeching, when Kelly Clarkson sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday. In fact, Clarkson kept things simple and straightforward, sporting a simple black dress, a nice mane of new on-trend bangs, and a swiftly paced rendition of the melodically demanding song that usually invites stretched-out bombast from the big-voiced divas invited to sing it for a national audience. Backed by a children’s choir — because what isn’t more meaningful when backed by a children’s choir? — Clarkson also seemed to be singing live, rather than merely lip-syncing.
All told, other than the fact that Clarkson barely smiled, there was really nothing to complain about the performance — and not much that was memorable about it either. At least Clarkson brought some musical vigor with that choir; Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton’s preceding performance of “America the Beautiful” was so swift and pared down, it barely registered. (Didn’t help that the country music power couple looked positively petrified.) That’s my reaction. What did you make of the performances?