Reba McEntire, Andra Day and Post Malone kicked off the Super Bowl LVIII with their presentations before the start of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers.
Country star Reba McEntire sang the U.S. national anthem and R&B singer-songwriter Andra Day sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” while rapper and singer Post Malone sang an acoustic version of “America the Beautiful.”
Taylor Swift is also present at the Super Bowl, but not among the artists performing on the field. Malone, however, has a collaboration with Swift on “Tortured Poets Department”, the singer's album scheduled for release in April.
“It’s really good,” Malone told Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe earlier this month. “She's so sweet and kind and talented and she called me and said, 'Let's go.' And I thought, of course, yes.”
Malone has another connection to Swift, as he has a Kansas City Chiefs tattoo. In addition to being Taylor's boyfriend, Kelce is, of course, essential to the team, which is playing in its second Super Bowl in two years, this time against the San Francisco 49ers.
Malone said the tattoo was the result of a loss in a game of beer pong against Kelce and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahones.
“We played beer pong, me, Mahomes and Kelce, and I said, if you guys beat me now, I’m going to get this team tattoo with your autographs,” Malone said. “And we had a tattoo artist there for some reason. And then I had to step away from the table and mark this forever on my body.”
Singer Reba McEntire also has a personal connection to the playing of the US national anthem, although it is not a tattoo.
The singer told Lowe that she has been singing this song for five decades and that it helped launch her career.
“I am honored. This is my 50th year singing the national anthem,” McEntire said. “I first sang at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City in 1974, I got my singing contract because of that. So this is kind of full circle.”
Andra Day brings the “gospel element” with the historically resonant “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a song known as the black national anthem in the US.
“For me, I'm a deeply spiritual person, so for me it's worship. My mom and I were talking about this the other day, and she said to me, 'This song is an anthem.' And I was like, 'Yeah,'” the Grammy-winning singer said at a pregame press event this week.
“I'm looking forward to singing this song and singing songs that represent people and talk about freedom and liberty and unity for everyone, I guess I'm looking forward to a time where that's not a conversation. It just becomes the norm,” Day added.
Source: CNN Brasil
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