It’s amazing that two days after President Barack Obama was sworn into office for his second term, B.O. isn’t the story.
The story is B.K. — Beyonce Knowles.
Over the last couple days, the whole Internet world has been discussing Beyonce Lip-Gate. Did Bey lip-synch her way though the National Anthem?
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Honestly, we still don’t really know.
Beyonce performed the National Anthem; after the performance people questioned whether she sung the song herself; a marine spokesperson said she did lip-synch; then another spokesperson said that couldn’t be determined; and Beyonce said nothing.
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Those are the facts.
There’s more info. In fact, there’s compelling evidence for both sides of the argument.
Evidence she lip-synched:
Her fellow celebs seem to think so.
This Beyonce business is the big story in the celebrity world, and a number of singers have already commented on it, while most are shrugging it off as no big deal.
Jennifer Lopez was on The Daily Show last night and when asked about it, she said:
“Sometimes it happens when you are in certain stadiums and certain venues and things, they do pre-record stuff because you’re going to have that terrible slapback.”
TMZ ran into Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and the rock star completely brushed the topic off, saying:
“Beyonce’s so hot she can do anything. Let’s just get real.”
Michelle Williams, one third of Destiny’s Child, fully supported Bey on ET:
“I will say this, it’s not the first or the last time that someone has had to lip-synch…my greatest singer of all time, Whitney Houston, it came to light that her anthem was in fact lip-synched… It’s their personal preference. With big crowds and echoes, you know when it’s a big historical moment, you don’t want any room for any mistakes so I can understand why it was done.”
The greatest response came from Aretha Franklin, who once famously had a spat with Beyonce. The singer said:
“When I heard that I just really cracked up. I thought it was really funny, but she did a beautiful job with the pre-record … next time I’ll probably do the same.”
During the 2008 Inauguration, Aretha Franklin performed “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”— without a track, she was quick to add.
Evidence she didn’t lip-synch:
She screws up in the beginning
The thing that makes lip-synching wonderful is that it’s perfect. If you watch the video closely, you’ll see that in the beginning, Bey is too far from the mic, and you can’t hear the vocals clearly, something that wouldn’t have happened if it was a recording.
Evidence she lip-synched:
The weather was cold, not ideal singing weather
It’s no secret that cold weather is hell for singers. So it’s understandable that Beyonce would lip-synch, not wanting to have any mistakes during her performance. During that interview we mentioned earlier, Aretha mentions how difficult it is singing in temps that are very cold:
“I thought it was funny because the weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees and for most singers that is just not good singing weather.”
The weather was actually colder, hovering around 40 degrees. It was, however, not colder than the 2008 inauguration, which Aretha was quick to mention:
“In 2009, I wanted everything to be live and on the real side for the moment as it actually happened. Those were my feelings for my performance, but having come face to face with 28, 22 degrees I am not surprised she pre-recorded. She wanted her performance to be what she wanted to be and she realized it wasn’t going to be the way she wanted it to be or she was going to be running a risk. That’s probably why she pre-recorded exactly how she wanted it to be heard.”
Evidence she didn’t lip-synch:
She rips her earpiece out
The most dramatic moment of the performance came during the middle, when she ripped the earplugs out of her ears. This is something that works in favor for the argument that she did not lip-synch: Wouldn’t she need to hear vocals to lip-synch properly? She would.
Evidence she lip-synched:
It’s done all the time
While Twitter and some online publications were going crazy about this, there was a shrug among singers and people in the know.
Truth is, this thing happens all the time. From Whitney Houston and Jennifer Hudson at their respective Super Bowls to Michael Jackson moon walking at Motown 25, it happens. If those legendary singers could lip-synch, why not Queen Bey?
Evidence she didn’t lip-synch:
The smile
A website called ProductionAdvice looked at the video and they determined that Bey did not lip-synch. In addition to the evidence we mentioned above, the site also noticed that at the 2:17 mark she smiled and, according to the site, you could hear the smile in her performance. Using the evidence they found, the site concluded that she didn’t lip synch, but she sang over her recording.
