Super Bowl: Demi Lovato’s Comeback From Overdose Continues With Anthem Spotlight
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A decade after Demi Lovato predicted that she would perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl the New Mexico native delivered on her dream by performing a towering version of The Star Spangled Banner at the NFL’s championship showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Lovato’s robust rendition of the Francis Scott Key song at Super Bowl LIV in South Florida got a full-throated ovation from the sold-out crowd at Hard Rock Stadium although some observer noted that some celebrities (Jay-Z and Beyonce among them) who were conspicuously seated during the pre-game patriotic ritual.
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For Lovato, clad in an immaculate white jumpsuit that strongly contrasted with the crisp green field around her, the performance bookended a big week. Last Sunday, the 27-year-old singer returned to the stage for the first time since her drug overdose in 2018 with a Grammys performance of her evocative new single, Anyone, which she wrote four days after her near-fatal drug misadventure.
Lovato’s streaming music numbers spiked sharply following her performance at the Grammys, which aired on CBS.
Lovato had predicated a decade ago on social media that she would someday stand at the microphone to serenade the global audience of the Super Bowl. That prediction came true in Sunday’s contest, which aired on Fox.
Lovato arrived at the NFL’s biggest game as an experienced hand with the always-challenging anthem spotlight. She sang The Star-Spangled Banner at a 2008 NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks, then at the World Series in 2011, and most recently at the Mayweather-McGregor fight in 2017.
Past anthem performers at the big game include Chery Ladd (1980), Neil Diamond (1987), Billy Joel (1989 and 2007), Whitney Houston (1991), Dixie Chicks (2003) Beyoncé (2004), Christina Aguilera (2011), Idina Menzel (2015), and Lady Gaga (2016).
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