Rachel Platten Turns National Anthem Into Star-Spangled Blunder

Rachel Platten is the latest singer to join the ranks of stars who have botched the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Her performance of the National Anthem at a soccer game in Salt Lake City got off to a rough start as she tripped up on the lyrics.

Platten started the anthem on the wrong foot, singing “Oh say can you see, by the stars early light” instead of “by the dawn’s early light.” She tried one more time, and still tripped up at the same spot. By the third time, the crowd at the Chicago Red Stars and Utah Royals began chiming in to help her out.

The 36-year-old Platten completed the National Anthem on the third try without a problem, so it was nowhere near as bad as Fergie’s recent flop.

However, what made Platten’s performance more embarrassing is that she has performed the anthem without any problem before. She sang it at Game 1 of the 2016 World Series and at the 2016 MLB All Star Game. She also performed it before a Red Sox-Yankees game in October 2009.

Platten has not commented on the anthem flub, but her fans took to YouTube to defend her.

“She’s human people….we’re all human… On a side note…. her voice is beautiful,” one person wrote.

“She didn’t let it mess up her performance,” another wrote. “She stumbled on one word, kept going strong and my god her voice is beautiful. I probably would’ve just s— myself standing up there in front of all those people AND forgotten ALL the words.”

The “Fight Song” singer has been out promoting her second album, Waves, which came out in October 2017. It includes the single “Broken Glass.” In a recent interview with TIME Magazine, Platten said she is trying to prove she is more than just one big anthem.

“I think I was a lot braver. We broke a lot of rules,” she said of her new album. “My main collaborators and I felt like we were little kids in a playground with no adults around to tell us [what we] we can’t do. If Wildfire was my feelings from like 5 to 8 on the scale, this is like 1 to 10. All the way girl bop, feeling good, roll-your windows down to crying in the middle of the night, wondering what the point is.”

According to Billboard, Waves sold just 8,000 units in its first week, debuting at No. 73. By comparison, Wildfire, which included “Fight Song,” peaked at No. 5 in 2016.

Photo credit: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images