Rachel Platten finally speaks up and apologizes over her botched singing of the national anthem
Rachel Platten had every singer's nightmare turn into reality when she bungled not once, but twice while singing the national anthem recently. The talented musician was performing at the Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah on Sunday when the incident took place.
The 36-year-old, who is best known for her 2014 single “Fight Song,” restarted her performance twice, minutes before the NWSL soccer game between the Utah Royals and the Chicago Red Stars.
When the singer kick-started the Star-Spangled Banner acapella, she quickly stumbled and said the wrong words for the first verse, prompting her to start over again. However, she ran into the same problem after a while but was aided by fans in the stands, who helped her power through the rest of the performance.
Two days after the embarrassing incident, the musician recounted the moments of the day which led to her devastating performance at the NWSL soccer game, in an interview with People magazine. She also broke her silence on how it was an "incredibly embarrassing" moment of her life.
“I feel really embarrassed, honestly. I’m having a hard time forgiving myself, but I’m working on it. It was incredibly, incredibly embarrassing,” said Platten. “I’ve been trying to retrace steps of what happened … it has just been hanging over me.”
Speaking more about the day, she delved into why she flubbed while singing, and what led to her embarrassing performance. “I was so nervous going into it. The anthem is such a big deal; it’s probably the most important song for our country. I always get nervous because it means so much because it is so powerful. I always want to do it justice, do a good job and give people the exact version they expect and they want,” she said.
Platten, who also tweeted out an apology on social media, had previously sung the national anthem before Game 1 of the 2016 World Series.
“I have done it a bunch of times, but I stepped in front of the people and I felt the expectation. I was ready to open up and do it, and my mind just went blank,” she shared. “I was trying to explain it to my husband: It was like a test that you know all the material to, you study so much and you get in there, and your mind doesn’t cooperate.”
The musician, who is married to Kevin Lazan, also recalled how she felt after completing the national anthem on her third try.
“I was proud that I was able to finish … I actually can’t believe I didn’t forget more words and that I was able to complete the song. So I’m kind of shocked,” she said, all the while fighting back her tears. She even remembered telling herself: “‘What I’m not going to do is run away. I really want to run out of the stadium right now, but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to finish this song.'”