Singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” can be a largely thankless task. From having problems with the words to having problems with the pitch, the chosen few are criticized far more often than they’re praised for their efforts. Unfortunately for Alexis Normand, she now knows that fact far too well.
According to Sports Illustrated, the crooner, who is based in Saskatoon, was performing during the pregame this weekend at the Memorial Cup game between the Halifax Mooseheads and the Portland Winterhawks when she had some major problems remembering the words to the “Stars-Spangled Banner”. She was reportedly under the impression she would only have to perform “O Canada” but upon arriving, was told she would have to do both anthems. Obviously, her last minute preparation didn’t go as well as she hoped, but the crowd helped her along well enough that she was able to get to the end.
Immediately after the incident, Normand took to Twitter to apologize and thank the crowd for their support. More often than not, she performs in French and obviously, hasn’t had a whole lot of exposure to “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Consequently, there’s really no reason to give her a hard time over this. Here’s to hoping she learns the song and returns to a big stage to nail it the next time around.
