Charlie Puth on December 9, 2022 / Reuters
Charlie Puth has vowed to deliver his “best vocals” when he performs the American national anthem at the Super Bowl.
The singer-songwriter – known for songs including ‘See You Again’ and ‘Marvin Gaye’ – was announced for the prestigious honour by the NFL on Sunday, following on from performances by Brandi Carlile and Coco Jones.
The NFL’s choice for ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ received a mixed response online, with one Twitter user writing: “Man we’ve fallen from when Whitney Houston sang at the Super Bowl. Charlie Puth? He’s not gonna give us vocals I’m afraid.”
Puth quote-tweeted the criticism to his 3.3 million followers, responding: “I’ll never claim to be as good of a singer as Whitney Houston ever was. But I assure you we’re putting a really special arrangement together- in D major. It’ll be one of my best vocal performances.”
In a previous Instagram video, Puth had explained the challenges of singing the anthem, telling viewers: “Did you know that one of the most beautiful pieces of music also happens to be the hardest to sing? Ah, yes, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is a piece of music that has extreme vocal range.
“Most hard-to-sing songs span just one octave range, like a low D to a high D. But ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ it goes from a low D to a high D, plus five more notes, all the way up to a very high A.”
The 2026 Super Bowl, which will feature a half-time show from Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, is scheduled to take place on February 8 in California.
