To introduce this year’s Super Bowl, Mickey Guyton delivered a powerful, gospel-tinged rendition of the National Anthem to an excited crowd of fans. Before hitting the stage at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, Guyton was described as having the “voice of an angel.” In a floor-length, blue gown, her crystalline vocals soared, and she looked as if she was nearly moved to tears during the track.
Ahead of Guyton, Jhené Aiko kicked things off with a moving performance of “America the Beautiful” alongside a harpist.
This evening’s game in Los Angeles wasn’t the first time the “Black Like Me” singer has performed the “Star-Spangled Banner.” For the last six years, Guyton has sung it on numerous occasions including Nashville’s CRS conference and a Memorial Day concert in Washington D.C. Her Super Bowl set follows the release of her critically-acclaimed debut studio album Remember Her Name, which was released in September.
Earlier this month, Guyton expressed her excitement about the opportunity on Twitter saying, “I am shook, I am grateful, I am praise dancing. So excited to be singing the national anthem.” The “Star-Spangled Banner” has loomed large in Guyton’s life over the years. She revealed in a 2015 interview that watching LeAnn Rimes perform the national anthem during a Texas Rangers game as a child helped inspire her to become a country artist herself.
Tonight’s Big Game will feature the Cincinnati Bengals battling the Los Angeles Rams, and the halftime show will host a slew of hip-hop icons including Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.
The Darkness have shared that their holiday anthem Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) came together on the spot after a night of heavy drinking.
Guitarist Dan Hawkins looked back on the moment the band’s label encouraged them to deliver a festive release following their breakthrough in the UK.
He told NME, “I was in the Met Bar getting absolutely wasted with Max Lousada, our A+R guy back then.
He said, ‘We have to start thinking about a Christmas single, right? What are you thinking: Love Is Only A Feeling?’ I told him, ‘Well, that is not a Christmas single, is it?’ He asked if we already had one and I said ‘Yeah’… even though we did not.”
The following day, while on the way to open for Metallica at Dublin’s RDS Arena, the group jumped straight into creating it. Hawkins picked up fairy lights and Christmas sweaters for the tour bus, and the 2003 track came together quickly.
He continued, “Justin had that chorus lying around as something he messed with years ago.
We figured out how to shape it into a real song and it was wrapped up within a couple of hours in the back of the bus. We honestly just blagged the whole thing.”
Even with its quick creation, Hawkins explained that the band wanted to craft an authentic Christmas single rather than simply dropping sleigh bells onto an already finished idea.
He added, “At that moment, I really wanted to compete. I wanted to be involved in the race for Christmas. You can tell instantly when someone just tosses in bells and the word ‘Christmas’ to an ordinary song. We wanted to make something that felt real.”
The track eventually grew into one of the band’s most iconic releases, placing The Darkness securely among modern Christmas rock staples.
The song narrowly missed the top spot after losing out to Gary Jules and Michael Andrews’ cover of the Tears For Fears track Mad World.
