Alicia Keys' Super Bowl Performance Touches the Soul [Video]
With her already impressive string of credits, Alicia Keys can now add "performed national anthem at the Super Bowl" to her list of accomplishments.
Keys' rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" kicked off Super Bowl 47 on Feb. 3, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. It's hard to believe that about eight years ago, the Superdome garnered an altogether different type of attention for housing thousands of displaced New Orleanians affected by Hurricane Katrina. The 14-time Grammy winner was perhaps mindful of New Orleans and the devastation that has left a lasting mark on the city during her emotional delivery of the national anthem.
Written in 1814 by then amateur poet Francis Scott Key, the national anthem has always been a popular subject, given that so many pop acts have cut their teeth on tackling the verbose anthem: Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson and Whitney Houston's version, which has become a standard set by the great pop songstress for all singers to follow.
Keys' version, according to renowned anthem expert David Barron, clocked in at 156.4 seconds, making it possibly the longest version of the national anthem in Super Bowl history. With her reharmonization of the chords and long pauses in between each phrase, Keys transformed "The Star-Spangled Banner" as we know it, giving it both body and soul.
Keys wore a red Alia gown and performed with a grand white piano placed out into the middle of the football field. Although the contralto singer had to struggle through the high notes ("And the rockets' red glare/the bombs bursting in air"), Keys still managed to carve out yet another moment in history for herself.
