In the United States of America where there is endless poverty, a war on female reproductive rights, a dollar that is slipping farther and father from importance and senseless mass shootings, why do American citizens give a flying care about whether or not multimillionaire pop diva Beyoncé Knowles-Carter lip-synced The National Anthem at this years inauguration festivities? Does Ms. Knowles-Carter’s lip-syncing reflect poorly on the next four years of the Obama administration? Despite whether or not she did sing live the girl can get down when it comes to a microphone.
According to Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker, “A rising chorus of congressional republicans are calling for Obama to resign” because of the lip-syncing scandal.
“If Beyoncé lip-synced the national anthem, how do we know President Obama didn’t lip-sync his oath of office?” Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican representative, said. Oh! The horror! Beyoncé’s lip-syncing is more important than the floundering economy or the unmanned drone attacks that indiscriminately wipe out entire villages and families in the Middle East. Dead brown children somewhere in the middle of the desert don’t register as highly as Beyoncé’s singing voice in American mainstream media or to the frighteningly out of touch republican party.
Our society often holds artist, specifically singers, to higher standards than we do to normal everyday citizens. What if she got a cold? Horse voice? Or even lost her voice? If we all had a chance to sing at the Inauguration, I can only imagine the tremendous pressure to perform perfectly. So, say Beyoncé is actually a normal human being who knew she would not be able to perform her best (due to illness or not a prerecorded track seems like the most logical way to prevent embarrassing herself in front of millions of American viewers.
Remember Whitney Houston’s sparkling Rendition of the National Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl? That was prerecorded too.
