Pop singer Fergie struggled with her, erm, unique take on “The Star-Spangled Banner” even before her widely mocked performance of it before last night’s NBA All-Star Game, rehearsal footage acquired by Deadspin reveals.
Honor guard members stood at attention for more than ten minutes during the rehearsal, which saw Fergie run through portions of the national anthem three times while taking massive gulps of water between each performance. She seems particularly uncertain, in the footage, about the weird shrieking part. (We’ve edited out about six minutes of discussion between Fergie and other people between the practice runs in this video, the details of which are inaudible.)
The footage, captured about two hours before pregame festivities were underway in Los Angeles, also shows Barenaked Ladies quickly run through “O Canada” in less than a minute-and-a-half:
The foursome did struggle with the newly updated lyrics to Canada’s national anthem, which were officially changed two weeks ago. (It sounds like half the band sang the old lyrics, and the other half the gender-neutral new ones.) Here’s the moment during their actual performance when they got to “of us” neé “thy sons”:
“Get it right, boys!” Little did they know that literally no one, no one, would be talking about their national anthem performance the next day.