Demi Lovato delivered a virtuoso performance of The Star Spangled Banner for Super Bowl LIV at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami this Sunday.
The 27-year-old showcased her vocal chops as she thundered through the high belt notes of the national anthem while modeling an angelic white jumpsuit.
Social media was ecstatic, with one Twitter user declaring her the ‘Super Bowl MVP’ and another writing: ‘Okay so Demi Lovato KILLED that. Honestly couldn’t think of a better choice of the National Anthem.’
Celebrities showered Demi with praise on Twitter, where Ryan Seacrest wrote: ‘Crushed. It,’ and Khloe Kardashian gushed: ‘Ok Demi!!!!!!! You better saaaannngggg #SuperBowl they was beautiful’.
Hailey Baldwin posted Insta Stories snaps of her watching the performance at home and wrote: ‘LETS GOOOOO!!!!!!! @ddlovato I have chills.’
Cardi B and Vanessa Hudgens, Demi’s fellow musical artists, were both watching her from the stands and made sure to post to their Insta Stories about it.
Demi moved up into her piercing falsetto as she sang: ‘Land of the free,’ and earned a massive ovation from the crowd after she concluded her rendition of the number.
She stood on a football-shaped platform in front of representatives from different branches of the United States military, each of whom held the relevant flag.
A massive American flag was held over the field across from Demi as she performed The Star Spangled Banner, which was written by Francis Scott Key commemorating the War Of 1812 between the US and Britain.
Beyonce, Jay-Z and their eldest daughter Blue Ivy Carter remained seated in the audience during the national anthem apparently as an act of protest, TMZ reports.
Jay-Z has entered a controversial partnership with the NFL, and in a recent New York Times interview he defended himself from allegations that by doing so he has betrayed the football players who knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality.
Before the game some fans were theorizing how long Demi would stretch out the song, and according to Barstool Bets: ‘1:50.22 is the official Anthem time for Demi Lovato’.
It turns out that the Albuquerque-born singer put positive vibes into the universe a decade in advance to make this performance happen. On February 7, 2010 she tweeted: ‘One day, I’m gonna sing the national anthem at a super bowl. Onnnee dayyy….’
The prediction has not been lost on fans, who have flooded the tweet’s comments with congratulations since her gig was announced last month.
One gushed: ’10 years later IM CRYING,’ while another wrote: ‘YOU DID IT BABY GIRL’ on January 16, the day she was revealed as the national anthem singer.
This Sunday before the game Demi herself remembered the tweet and posted a grab of it to her Instagram page, writing: ‘Dreams really do come true y’all.’
She fired up her Insta Stories that afternoon and gave her fans a preview of her outfit with a selfie video, then filmed herself arriving at the venue.
‘Let’s go! Let’s do this!’ she crowed, doing vocal warm-ups as a golf-cart carried her across the parking lot of the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
Demi could also be seen on her Insta Stories waiting in the tunnel before going onto the field. She got moral support from her manager Scooter Braun, who has been hitting the headlines for a feud with Taylor Swift.
‘We are officially backstage in the tunnel,’ said Demi to her followers. Scooter cut in: ‘Okay, that’s nice, we have a national anthem to do – she’s not gonna see you anymore until national anthem,’ getting a laugh from Demi.
When she posted the original tweet, Demi was a 17-year-old starring on the Disney Channel sitcom Sonny With A Chance.
She has since risen to greater heights of pop stardom and battled an onslaught of personal demons including bulimia and addiction.
Demi was hospitalized after an overdose in July 2018, reentering rehab after more than six years of sobriety. That June she had released a single called Sober asking her parents’ forgiveness for falling off the wagon.
She took about a year and a half off live shows but returned to the stage to debut her single Anyone at last weekend’s Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
This year’s Super Bowl held in Miami will feature a halftime show starring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, who have both lived in the city.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers will be facing off against one another at the Hard Rock Stadium.
This Saturday Demi was glimpsed leaving the E11EVEN nightclub in Miami at 6am, and by that night she was playing the Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest.
The Nobu hotel in Miami, co-owned by Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro, has put Demi up for free over the weekend and she thanked them on her Instagram page Sunday morning.
‘The complimentary stay was clutch and I’m v grateful! We had an amazing stay. Nobu beds and Nobu ROOM SERVICE = everything,’ she gushed.
Her post also offered a bit of a backstage look at her prep for the Super Bowl, as she tagged celebrity makeup artist Jill Powell and hairdresser Paul Norton.
Super Bowl Sunday is not the first sporting event where she sings The Star Spangled Banner, which she has been doing since she was a teen.
In November 2008 at the age of 16 she belted out the national anthem at a Dallas Cowboys game. Her mother Dianna De La Garza was once a cheerleader for the team.
The former child star performed the song at the World Series in both 2011 and on Halloween 2015.
She also sang The Star Spangled Banner at the hotly anticipated 2017 ‘Money Fight’ between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
SOURCE: Daily Mail, Sameer Suri
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