Reba McEntire Performs Rousing National Anthem at Super Bowl LVIII

Reba McEntire helped get Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers underway with her rendition of the national anthem at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

McEntire’s emotive, affecting rendition lit up the crowd and moved some of the football players — including the Chiefs’ defensive tackle Chris Jones — on the field to tears. As her voice reached a crescendo with “the rockets red glare” lyric, fireworks lit up the circumference of the top of the stadium and the rousing rendition was punctuated by fighter jets doing a fly-by above. Her performance was accompanied by an American Sign Language performance from Coda actor Daniel Durant.

In a recent interview with Apple Music, McEntire said she was “honored beyond words” to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl. “It means that I get to sing a very special song for all Americans, people all around the world, who have really worked so hard for freedom and to give us peace,” she said. “And as I said earlier, it’s not about me: I’m the representation of this song, and I’m just honored to get to sing it.”

While McEntire noted that she’s been singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” for years, she later spoke about how she has been preparing for this particular performance. “I’ve been singing the national anthem in the shower, when we get in the car,” she quipped. 

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Along with McEntire’s take on “The Star Spangled Banner,” the Super Bowl pre-game show festivities featured Post Malone performing “America the Beautiful” and Andra Day singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Super Bowl LVIII’s other big musical spectacle — the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show — will be headlined by Usher. 

Outside her Super Bowl duties, McEntire has been busy lately serving as a coach on The Voice. She officially joined for Season 24 last year (after previously serving as a “Mega Mentor”) and will remain on hand when the long-running singing competition returns for Season 25 on Feb. 26 (her fellow coaches will be Chance the Rapper, John Legend, and newcomers Dan + Shay).