What’s in a song? A lot when it comes to Americans and our National Anthem. Was Jewel’s performance of our national anthem disrespectful?
Whether you’re at a meeting, a concert, or a sporting event, we love to hear the Star Spangled Banner. The audience is looking for the performance to be as passionate and heartfelt as our love for our great nation. We want to feel the singer’s love for our country and see their pride in its history. We also, traditionally, want to hear a strong, clear voice that embodies the anthem’s message of hope and unity.
Of course, no two performances are exactly alike, and what one audience loves, another may not. But all great National Anthem performances share one thing in common: they make the audience feel something. Ideally, they make them feel proud to be American, and they give them hope for the future. But that’s not always the case, which brings me to Jewel.
You know Jewel. She was a big deal in the 90s with songs like “Who Will Save Your Soul” and “Foolish Games.” Jewel was born in Utah but grew up in Alaska under very meager conditions. According to Wikipedia, the house Jewel grew up in didn’t have indoor plumbing. Her family was featured on the Discovery Channel show Alaska: The Last Frontier which follows Jewel’s family and documents their day-to-day struggles living in the Alaskan wilderness. Jewel said:
“We lived far from town. We had to walk 2 miles (3.2 km) just to get to the saddle barn I was raised in… No running water, no heat—we had a coal stove and an outhouse and we mainly lived off of what we could kill or can. We picked berries and made jam. We caught fish to freeze and had gardens and cattle to live on. I rode horses every day in the summer beneath the Alaskan midnight sun. I loved it there.”
While it sounds like Jewels’ story is what this country is made for – starting from nothing and becoming something – it doesn’t mean she’ll please all of the people all of the time. Jewel received her share of criticism when she performed the National Anthem before the 2023 Indy 500, but I’m not sure it was warranted.
Below are some of our favorite and least favorite Anthem performances. On which list do you think Jewel’s performance lands? Scroll down to watch.
