Post Malone belted out an unexpectedly folky version of “America the Beautiful” before Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The musician’s soulful rendition of the patriotic anthem was pleasantly unpretentious — an interesting contrast to his heavily tattooed face and diamond-and-gold teeth grills.
The 28-year-old donned a white dress shirt, brown blazer and blue jeans while strumming an acoustic guitar at Allegiant Stadium.
Singer Taylor Swift — who is dating Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce — was spotted swaying to the music alongside her friend, actress Blake Lively.
.@PostMalone delivers a special performance of America The Beautiful! #SBLVIII pic.twitter.com/gnZalcIKzi
— NFL (@NFL) February 11, 2024
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“America the Beautiful” has been performed at the Super Bowl every year since 2009.
To prepare for his performance, Malone sang the song nonstop around his house — so much so his family tried “to get me to shut up,” he said in an interview with Apple Music.
To calm his nerves, the musician said he kept his dad’s advice at the forefront of his mind.
Do you enjoy this version?
“My dad told me, ‘You’ll never make everybody happy. So just be yourself and do your best at everything you do. Do it your way and do it with love,’” he said.
Rob Stevenson, a partner at New York record label 300 Entertainment, has called Malone the “Donald Trump of hip-hop” because of his unexpectedly meteoric rise in the music industry.
“Things that should’ve killed his career have only made him bigger,” Stevenson told the Los Angeles Times in 2016.
Malone, who is not openly political, outraged some fans in 2016 when he pragmatically said he would consider performing at Trump’s inauguration because work is work.
“It doesn’t make any sense, because … if he was to say, ‘Yo, I really like your music. Will you come and do a show?’ Why would I get backlash because someone was booking me?” he said. “If I do his show, does that mean that I’m a supporter of him?”
The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, defeating the San Francisco 49ers in overtime 25-22.
Whether you’re happy, angry or indifferent about the outcome, it’s refreshing that NFL stars protesting the national anthem did not overshadow the game, for a change.
Here’s to hoping the league has learned a lesson from the punishing backlash it suffered after being a puppet for Black Lives Matter grifters and will stop using the football field to push left-wing propaganda.
