Super Bowl LI is underway, which means we’ve seen what will probably be the most watched performance of the national anthem,”The Star-Spangled Banner,” of the year.
For the fifty-first edition of the Super Bowl, the anthem was sung by country star Luke Bryan. You can watch his performance below.
.@LukeBryanOnline performs the National Anthem prior to #SB51! https://t.co/xR5kEdBuDz
— NFL (@NFL) February 5, 2017
The anthem was performed last year by Lady Gaga, who is this year’s Super Bowl halftime headliner. Bryan is the first male singer to handle the anthem at the Super Bowl since Billy Joel did it ten years ago.
Bryan’s anthem came moments after a rendition of “America the Beautiful” performed by Jasmine Cephas Jones, Phillipa Soo and Renée Elise Goldsberry — who are, collectively, best known as the Schuyler sisters from the original cast of “Hamilton.”
The performance of “America the Beautiful” was perhaps even more notable than Bryan’s anthem. When the line “and crown thy good with brotherhood,” the trio of women added “and sisterhood.” LA Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke referred to the addition as a “shot across the bow” of the Trump administration.
The Hamilton singers' insertion of word, "Sisterhood'' into America the Beautiful was SB's first shot across bow of current administration
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) February 5, 2017
There was little dissent about the addition on social media, which most viewers, apparently, enjoyed — though many of those delighting in it agreed with Plaschke, that it was a pointed and very topical addition.