Published on February 4th, 2013 | by Lauren Pirc
VIDEO: Beyoncé’s Lips Leave Questions Unanswered
PDF Lauren Pirc, Editor-in-Chief
Video above: Highlights from Super Bowl 47, including Beyoncé’s halftime performance.
Photo provided by dc.about.com: R & B superstar singer Beyoncé lip-syncing at President Obama’s inaguration Jan. 21 caused quite the controversy.
While many were talking about President Obama’s inauguration before the festivities, after it ended, there was one thing that the whole nation was talking about: Beyoncé lip-syncing. There is so much controversy surrounding this choice, along with lip-syncing in general. This choice could turn into a big mistake for the artist and potentially damage her image.
Beyoncé is one of the most well-known musical names in this generation, and she’s a role model for a lot of people, which makes her choice even more confusing. She has sold 13 million albums in the U.S., along with 75 million worldwide.
With all of her awards and achievements, she has been declared one of the bestselling artists of all time and among Forbes’ 2010 list of “100 Most Powerful and Influential Musicians in the World.” Having so many accolades to her name, then, what could have made her decide to use the track rather than performing live?
According to many reports, the decision to use the recording was made at the last minute, but they never explain what the reason was. Now, I could see if Beyoncé was sick or something, but then say that, don’t leave people wondering about your choice. The thing is, all of the other artists, including Kelly Clarkson, performed live at the inauguration, so it doesn’t really make sense why Beyoncé didn’t.
By originally not explaining why she wasn’t singing live, it reduces her credibility considerably. Beyoncé has now put her name up with Ashlee Simpson, Britney Spears, Madonna and Milli Vanilli, a crowd also known to have faked singing. She’s set to perform at the Super Bowl for halftime, and now the viewers are going to be watching to see if she will do the same thing.
The difference between the two instances is that in the halftime show, she’ll be dancing, so it’ll be expected for her to lip-sync; but at the inauguration, she was completely still, so there’s really not much of an excuse. The singer has come out stating that she will perform live at the Super Bowl, but how can we really trust that she will?
At the Super Bowl Press Conference, Jan. 31, Beyoncé owned up to her choice, making a blatant statement.
“I am a perfectionist. I did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra for a live television show and a very very important, emotional show for me one of my proudest moments,” Beyonce said at the conference. “I did not feel comfortable taking a risk. It was about the president and the inauguration and I wanted to make him and our country proud so I decided to sing along with my prerecorded track. I’m very proud of my performance.”
Does anyone else see what’s wrong with that statement? She said she did not have time to practice for what she deems as one of her proudest moments. Seriously? She didn’t have time for that, what makes fans think she’ll bring it for the upcoming Super Bowl.
There’s also never been an artist known to lip-sync during any inauguration, although every artist does have a pre-recorded back-up in case of bad weather or some other circumstance. At Obama’s first inauguration, Yo-Yo Ma went with his pre-recording because of bad weather, becoming the first known to not perform live.
The thing that really bothers me about Beyoncé lip-syncing at the inauguration is that she was paid to do one thing: sing. Did she sing? Well, yes, technically she did, but when you’re paying that much money, you expect to get your money’s worth. She wasn’t dancing; she was barely moving at all.
I’m not saying that Beyoncé’s recorded version wasn’t lovely, but why couldn’t she have just done that at the event itself? Again, it makes no sense to me whatsoever without some reason from the artist. Even if Beyoncé was doing it as a personal favor, wouldn’t it make more sense for her to do it live? She may have wanted her performance to be flawless, but she could’ve easily belted out the same performance at the event.
I’m not naïve enough to think that no one ever lip-syncs, trust me, some of them need to, but I still think that for a name like Beyoncé, singing at the personal request of the president would give her enough reason to do the best she can by singing live. I think that this decision could negatively impact her image, and in the end, she may come to regret it.
