Reba McEntire gives national anthem a country flair at Super Bowl 2024
O say, can she see.
Reba McEntire, 68, performed the national anthem at the 2024 Super Bowl, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the San Francisco 49ers (and all eyes on Taylor Swift, cheering on her boyfriend, Travis Kelce).
She gave it a country twang, and wore black pants, bedazzled in rhinestones, with a sparkly blazer.
Last year, Chris Stapleton sang the patriotic song, making this the second year in a row that a prominent country artist has been tapped to perform the tune.
“CODA” actor Daniel Durant performed it in American Sign Language while McEntire sang.
McEntire’s was one of the three big pre-game performances this year. Post Malone, 28, sang “America the Beautiful” while Andra Day, 39, sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
McEntire, a k a “The Queen of Country,” has had a long career, first rising to fame in the ’80s with her breakout song, “Can’t Even Get the Blues.” She also starred in the TV show “Reba” for six seasons, from 2001 to 2007, and she’s been a featured coach on “The Voice” since 2023.
During an interview on “CBS Mornings,” McEntire revealed that when her manager called to say she’d been asked to perform the national anthem, her first response was, “Oh my gosh, well let me think about that.” But she said that her boyfriend, actor Rex Linn (“Better Call Saul”), who is a football fan, said, “Yes! Absolutely she’ll do it.”
McEntire and Linn, 67, met in 2020, and she previously told People that after a long day of filming “The Voice,” “Rex meets me at the garage when I get out of the car. He’ll fix me a drink if I need it. He’ll sit there and talk to me, because I’ve talked my head off all day long, so he knows I just need to relax and chill.”
What we covered during Super Bowl 2024
- Super Bowl 2024 live updates: Chiefs top 49ers
- Taylor Swift celebrates Chiefs’ wild Super Bowl 2024 win over 49ers
- Usher and girlfriend Jennifer Goicoechea obtain marriage license in Las Vegas ahead of Super Bowl performance
- Shirtless Usher rocks (and rolls) at Super Bowl 2024 with Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Ludacris and more special guests
- Jets castoff becomes Super Bowl hero with game-winning touchdown
- Travis Kelce hugs Andy Reid after lashing out at Chiefs coach
Before Linn, she was married twice: to rancher Charlie Battles and to her manager and former steel-guitar player Narvel Blackstock, with whom she had her son, race car driver Shelby Blackstock, 33.
During her interview with Gayle King on “CBS Mornings,” McEntire said that this will be her first performance at the Big Game.
“I’ve been singing the national anthem, well, a long time. But I started singing in 1974 — singing the national anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City,” she said. “I sang the national anthem there for 10 years.”
When King commented that it’s “one of the hardest songs to sing,” McEntire said, “You just warm up like you do a concert and sing it about five or six times and get in there and do it!”
