Like many people, when I first heard that the NFL had invited our country king Eric Church to perform the National Anthem honors at the Super Bowl with R&B doll Jazmine Sullivan, I was a bit confused. No doubt an attempt to symbolically unite the music of the day, the pairing was quite unlikely.
Church, in a tasteful purple jacket with the signature shades, opened the rendition with the best guitar opening for the Star Spangled Banner that I’ve ever heard. He continued the momentum by handling the vocals for roughly the first thirty seconds on his own, and boy did he shine. Opting to forgo the traditional, mundane, “cookie cutter” approach to the Nation’s colors, Church put his own stylized twist on the song, completely knocking it out of the park in my book. Sullivan followed in her all white suit and crystal head jewelry. Unleashing her own powerhouse vocals, she definitely brought the glam and shine to this duet. For the remainder of the song, the pair opted to sing together with some solid harmonies but two very different approaches. Church kept his cool vibe and laid out stunning vocals while Sullivan’s vocals shined.
What I consider to be a very unlikely pairing, actually turned out quite nice. The duet that could’ve gone as bad as an awkward blind date is one of my favorite Super Bowl National Anthem performances in recent history. While the duet was uneven, the country king that is Eric Church still wins in my heart – and let’s be honest, they should’ve done the halftime show together too. Watch the video of the performance above and let us know in the comments what you thought.
