Fergie has spoken out following her polarising performance of the US national anthem over the weekend.
On Sunday night (19 February), Fergie was invited to perform the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ at the NBA All-Star Game, making the rather unusual choice to remix the iconic song in a jazzed-up style.
Her artistic choice, not to mention her less-than-stellar delivery, didn’t sit well with all viewers, though, with the former Black Eyed Peas singer now having had her say over the performance.
In a statement published by The Hollywood Reporter, Fergie said: “I’ve always been honored and proud to perform the national anthem and last night I wanted to try something special for the NBA.
“I’m a risk taker artistically, but clearly this rendition didn’t strike the intended tone. I love this country and honestly tried my best.”
However, Fergie isn’t the only singer whose national anthem performance didn’t exactly win unanimous praise.
At the Super Bowl earlier this month, singer/songwriter Pink was forced to speak out to defend herself when her version of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ at the opening of the football game proved to be divisive, pointing out she’d been suffering from the flu in the lead-up to the big night.
Beyoncé also took a lot of criticism when her version of the national anthem at Barack Obama’s second inauguration was eventually revealed to have been a lip sync to pre-recorded vocals.
Silencing her detractors, weeks later at a press conference for the Super Bowl, she gave an impromptu a capella version of the song, and in typical Beyoncé style, it was pretty much note perfect.
Listen to Fergie’s version in full below: