There’s nothing like the support of a loved one to help you get through a tough time.
For Chris Stapleton, he was looking for a little support from his wife (and musical partner) Morgane ahead of his “Star Spangled Banner” performance at last year’s Super Bowl. The “It Takes A Woman” singer is no stranger to playing in front of packed stadiums, but getting tapped to do the National Anthem at the “Big Game” was certainly a nerve-wracking moment.
The country star explained in a recent interview on Audacy’s Rob + Holly that one of the biggest things he was worried about prior to his performance was the basics of the song:
“Learning the words. I mean, I knew the words, but making sure – that’s the one unforgivable thing.”
Stapleton isn’t wrong about that. If you forget the words, or perform it in an odd way, your performance could live on in infamy. It was clear that the country music singer wanted everything to go smoothly when he stepped out on the field to basically kick off the Super Bowl.
That’s where his wife Morgane comes in, because she was apparently a huge help with calming some of Chris’ fears. And by that, I mean she was exposing her husband to all the things that have gone wrong and could go wrong with the National Anthem. In the weeks leading up to his performance, Morgane was sending Stapleton countless videos and examples of “Star Spangled Banner Gone Wrong” moments, as he explained in the interview:
“My wife was messing with me. There’s all these ideas of people messing up so she would find the people messing up the most and she would send me those.
I was like, ‘Please don’t send me this because I’m going to get that in my head.'”
What a horrible-yet-hilarious way to help your significant other face their fears.
And let’s be honest, based on how well Chris Stapleton’s rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner” went, I think Morgane actually did a lot to help. Instead of being included in some of the worst National Anthem blunders, Stapleton’s Super Bowl performance is considered one of the best ever.
It even brought Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni to tears:
I’m not sure why they didn’t just ask him to sing it every year from then on out after that…
Though I am excited to hear Reba “tackle” the National Anthem at this year’s Super Bowl, which will feature the Kansas City Chiefs facing off against the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas, Nevada. And while we’re speaking of Reba, and using football puns, you might want to “take a timeout” and read up on how you can bet the over/under on Reba’s “Star Spangled Banner” performance.
Hopefully she is preparing for her big moment a little differently than Stapleton, who likely watched this video (the worst National Anthem performance to ever exist) before he stepped out in front of the Super Bowl crowd last year:
