How Lady Gaga Rocked the National Anthem - and How You Can Too!

If you didn’t watch the 2021 U.S. Presidential Inauguration last month, you should definitely check out Lady Gaga’s rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. (Here’s a handy Youtube link if you need it: watch here!) Pop songstress Gaga absolutely rocked the national anthem, which is no small feat!

The American national anthem is notoriously difficult to sing. Whether you’ve struggled with it yourself or watched a nervous singer botch a performance before a sporting event, you’ve likely seen first-hand how challenging the song can be. It’s thanks in part to this level of difficulty that it is so impressive and inspiring when a talented vocalist absolutely crushes it.

So what makes the Star Spangled Banner so difficult and how can you master an inauguration worthy version yourself? Let’s find out!

Why is the anthem so hard to sing?

There are a few reasons this song is so difficult, but the biggest is the composition itself. Most pop songs have a pretty limited range; they’re written to be easy to sing and even easier to get stuck in your head. Your average radio hit has a range of less than an octave so that fans can belt along with their favorite artist. For example, the melody of Rihanna’s breakout hit Umbrella is only five notes. Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty has an even simpler melody and smaller range - just three notes (do, re, and mi, if you were curious)!

The Star Spangled Banner has an absolutely insane range of an octave and a half. Lady Gaga’s version ranged from F# below middle C (F#3) at its lowest to C# above middle C (C#5) at its peak. Even talented pros struggle with a span like that! Most vocalists will have to switch between their chest and head voice to hit all the notes accurately, a technique that can be challenging to master and make sound effortless.

On top of this, the melody has dramatic jumps throughout this range. The very first phrase, “oh say can you see,” has the vocalist sing an arpeggio up and down the octave only to jump up by another major third to the word “by” at the start of the next phrase. “O’er the ramparts we watched” features a major sixth leap up to first syllable of “ramparts” and the B part of the song only gets higher and more dramatic.

In general, modern vocal melodies avoid large jumps like the ones mentioned above and tend to move stepwise, because big leaps are difficult to sing. Think of how dramatic and triumphant the major third jump in the chorus of Free Fallin’ sounds; you’ve sung that interval four times over as well as a perfect fourth by the time you’ve finished the first phrase of the anthem.

Both big jumps and high notes require intense breath support and an athletic level of stamina. To add insult to injury, the longest held notes in the Star Spangled Banner are also the highest and even if you can muster that level of breath support, it’s challenging to find the space to breath towards the end of the song.

These issues with the composition only add to the other challenges a singer faces when performing the national anthem, the first being choosing the right key. The dramatic note span of the song can make it difficult to find a key where the melody sits comfortably within your vocal range. Chances are you’ll have to choose between challengingly low notes or challengingly high ones.

While you’re trying to nail those notes, don’t forget to sing the lyric expressively. But wait, what’s the lyric about again? What the heck is a rampart? The lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner were originally a poem by Francis Scott Key describing the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. If you can’t remember much about the War of 1812, you’re not alone. Neither the scene the poem describes nor the old fashioned language it’s written in are especially relatable to many modern performers. Singers are faced with the added challenge of correctly delivering the antiquated lyric while performing with emotion and energy that they may have to draw from somewhere other than the song itself.

In addition to these technical hurdles, performances of the Star Spangled Banner are often high-stress events - stress that we’ve previously mentioned can make singing immensely difficult. For many vocalists, singing the national anthem is the most exposure they’ll ever receive. Whether you’re opening a hometown ball game or ushering in a new presidential administration, there are probably more eyes (and ears) on you than in any previous performance. While Lady Gaga looked elegant, in control, and confident throughout her performance, we can’t help but think this was likely a stressful moment for her. Even for performers as famous as Gaga, Beyoncé, and Whitney Houston, their national anthem performances are among the most discussed of their careers.

So in summary, the anthem has an insanely wide range, wild leaps and jumps, weird lyrics, and you have to perform all of that in front of the largest audience of your life. No wonder so many artists struggle to nail the song!

So how did Lady Gaga do it - and how can you do it too?

We’ve broken down the successful aspects of Gaga’s performance into three categories: key, technique, and stylistic decisions.

Choosing a Key

First, Lady Gaga is known for her powerful alto vocals and smartly moved the song into a key that allowed her to take advantage of her chest voice. In contrast, Beyoncé’s 2013 performance was in a lower key that allowed her to showcase the breadth of her vocal range, strong head voice, and vocal flexibility. Different parts of your range have different sounds, strengths, and weaknesses. Choose which strengths you want to play to; are you a dramatic belter like Gaga, a nimble melodist like Beyoncé, or do you have another talent entirely to feature? Picking the right key is an essential first step in rocking any performance. It’s important to make sure you can sing not just the first couple lines of a song, but the lowest and highest notes as well. You can find your key on your own with a little trial and error or with the help of a voice teacher.

Technique

Secondly, Gaga’s technique is on point. You can see her taking full breaths before phrases, dropping her jaw, and lifting her cheeks (and thus her soft pallet) while reaching for high notes. Breathing is the foundation of any vocal performance. Her breaths are well timed to give her support through challenging and long phrases. During rehearsal, take time to focus on when you’re breathing and mark them on a lyric sheet or score. If you find yourself running out of breath on long phrases or notes, find a spot to sneak in a catch breath. Lady Gaga tucked one in the middle of the word “land” in the last phrase of the song; not a spot we would recommend, but it did give her the support she needed for a strong ending. Memorize where you need to take your breaths just like you memorize the lyrics and melody.

Lady Gaga also uses the consonants she’s singing to both bring clarity to the lyric and energy to the performance. Often, vocalists will attempt to add power to a song by pushing or getting louder, but putting more energy into your lips and enunciating clearly is a more surefire way to add excitement to a song without straining. This technique is particularly helpful in a song where you would already be calling on all your reserves just to hit the notes. It also lends itself well to the formal, old-fashioned language of the lyric.

Stylistic Decisions

The final aspect of Gaga’s performance that we’d like to highlight are her stylistic choices. One of the biggest challenges of performing a song as well known as the Star Spangled Banner is making it your own while delivering a confusing lyric. Straying too far from the original can come across as disrespectful but singing it exactly as written can lead to a forgettable performance. Gaga chose to play with the rhythm of the piece while largely staying true to the melody. She incorporates some big, half-note triplets in the A section that add interest without rendering the song unrecognizable. In the B part, she largely returns to the written rhythmic pattern of the song, but incorporates more melodic variation with little riffs and runs with the exception of one line that she slows down for emphasis (and takes the opportunity to physically gesture to the flag while doing so). In comparison, Beyoncé made less dramatic changes to the rhythm while playing with the melody and dynamics to a more significant extent than Gaga.

How much or how little you choose to alter the pitches or rhythm for your own performance is up to you and your personal style, but we recommend a less-is-more, intentional approach when deciding when to riff or alter the melody; give those moments a chance to shine and catch the listener’s ear rather than getting lost in an endless string of extra notes. Both Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s renditions of the anthem focus their riffing on moments where it adds energy and expressiveness. By being intentional in how you alter the song, you can strengthen the emotional impact of your performance.

Speaking of emotions, how do you emotionally deliver a lyric about a battle from a war that many Americans forget happened? (Be honest, did you remember that the U.S. attempted to invade southern Canada during the War of 1812?) Our suggestion is to take some time to finding your own meaning beyond the literal meaning of the lyric. What do you feel when you hear the anthem played? Pride, hope, sorrow, joy, anger, triumph, or maybe a mix of all of these and more? Lean into those feelings and use your dynamics, improvisation, tempo, and timbre to express them.

What it means to be American is varied and complex. While the image of a Baltimore fort weathering an oft forgotten bombardment might not hold much emotion for many of us, the song itself represents the nation and serves as a canvas for each singer to share their unique American experience through their stylistic choices. Whether you sing it straight or use it as an opportunity to demonstrate your skill as an arranger, you’re adding your note to the song that is the United States.

Book a Lesson Today and Craft Your Unique Rendition of the National Anthem

Wherever and whenever you sing the anthem, we hope you rock it with confidence. Send us an email and let us know if you enjoyed Lady Gaga’s performance or if another singer is your favorite inauguration performer. If you want help developing your performance, set up a lesson with Zelda today! And, most importantly, don’t forget to love your voice!

Set up a lesson with Zelda today and craft your own amazing performance of the National Anthem!

Mention this article for a 20% discount on your first lesson.