More like Star-Strangled Banner.
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Poor indie singer Loomis was invited to sing the national anthem in front of a live audience at The Free and Equal Elections Foundation. This event is supposed to give three third-party presidential nominees a chance to argue and debate. What it's actually become, however, is the boring after-party to a toe-curling performance.
She started an acapella performance of one of the scariest songs one can perform. In the middle of the song, however, she made an imperceivable mistake and immediately called herself out on it.
"I f--ked it up, I f--ked it up," she squeezed out, her eyes clamped shut. You can feel the embarrassment leaching from her, and it's infectious. My head was firmly buried into my hoodie. The singer asked if she could go back.
She was told by a staff member off-screen that the performance was live. Her eyes shot wide and she immediately carried on singing. "I got too nervous" Loomis also strangled out between verses. When she finished the rendition, she couldn't get off the stage quick enough.
She starts singing 30 seconds in, by the way.
Singer Didn't Know The Performance Was Live
The singer wasn't given a chance to defend herself any further in the debate. After thanking for her contribution, she wasn't mentioned again.
TMZ found Loomis, however, and got to ask her about the botched performance. Given the circumstances around this specific show, it's understandable why she cracked.
According to the singer, she only had a day's heads-up about the show. She expressed that she never wanted to sing the national anthem due to how serious it is. Her father is a veteran, and she would never want to mess up such an important song.
With reservations about the performance and hardly any notice, she was already in a rocky state. This was made worse on the day, however.
Loomis said that she was never told it was live. Additionally, she started singing before the stream was set up, leading her to believe they could simply "go back" and re-record if needed. If she was reassured about the live streaming, I'm sure she would have simply continued and not interrupted her own performance.
She's certainly received a lot of flak for the performance. And although it was a difficult watch, my heart does go out for her.
