Super Bowl 2020: Demi Lovato Crashes Dan + Shay Concert Ahead of National Anthem Performance

Hours before Demi Lovato performed a stunning rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” ahead of Super Bowl LIV on Sunday, she crashed country duo Dan + Shay‘s pre-Super Bowl concert on Saturday night. Dan + Shay performed during the Bud Light Super Bowl Fest, where they met Lovato backstage. But during the show itself, Lovato stole the spotlight by joining the duo on their Gammy-winning hit “Speechless.”

Before the show, Lovato’s manager Scooter Braun shared a video of Lovato and Dan + Shay playing “Speechless” backstage on Instagram, reports Billboard.

“Moments when my job allows me to see moments that are just amazing,” Braun wrote. “[Lovato] came to see [Dan + Shay] last night and they started talking music and this happened backstage which led to an amazing surprise on stage. Wow.”

During the show itself, Lovato joined Dan + Shay to perform “Speechless” for the excited crowd.

“Speechless” has luckily become one of Dan + Shay’s most beloved songs since it was released on their self-titled third album in 2018. Last weekend, the song won Best Country Duo Group Performance at the Grammys and was nominated for Best Country Song. The duo previously won Best County Duo Group Performance for “Tequila” in 2019.

Lovato’s flawless performance of the National Anthem was quickly praised on Twitter. It came just one week after her powerful performance of her comeback single “Anyone” at the Grammy Awards. The single is her first since her near-fatal 2018 overdose.

“I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long. It’s going to be hard not to go on stage and just, like, word vomit everything,” Lovato explained to Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1. “I just want to go up there and tell my story. And I have three minutes to do so. So, I’m just going to do the best that I can. It’s only telling a fraction of my story, but it’s still a little bit, and it’s enough to kind of show the world where I’ve been.”

Lovato revealed she wrote and recorded the song before her overdose, and did not realize how powerful the lyrics would sound when it was finally released.

“I was singing this song and I didn’t even realize that the lyrics were so heavy and emotional until after the fact,” she said. “About a week after I had been in the hospital and I was finally awake, I just remember hearing back the songs I had just recorded and thinking, ‘If there’s ever a moment where I get to come back from this, I want to sing this song.’”

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