ONTD

Beyonce broke her silence Thursday on the National Anthem lip-sync controversy that has dogged her since the inauguration — and she broke it in style.

At a press conference in New Orleans to preview her Super Bowl halftime show, the superstar began with an unusual request of reporters: “Can you please stand?”

And then she sang the National Anthem — live, unaccompanied, and loud.

Her concert over and her point made, Beyonce offered a nuanced and vaguely apologetic account of what happened at the U.S. Capitol last week: She did rely on a pre-recorded vocal track, but she also sang along with it.

“I am a perfectionist,” she explained. She said she was afraid she wasn’t prepared for the inauguration performance — having missed a rehearsal with the Marine Band because she was preparing her Super bowl show — and so she used the tape.

She maintained that she will sing live at the Super Bowl, but not because of the inauguration backlash: “I always sing live.” Except, obviously, for last week in Washington. But in that case, she said, “the event wasn’t about me” in the way her halftime show will be..

“I will absolutely be singing live,” she said. “This is what I was born for. This is what I was born to do.”

Why didn’t she speak out sooner? “I’m happy that I could tell my story on my terms,” she said.

Video at source + YT