Move over, Fergie; the internet has crowned Ingrid Andress‘s national anthem performance as the worst of all time.
Though spectators at the 2024 MLB Home Run Derby enjoyed an evening of powerful swings and impressive athleticism at Texas’s Globe Life Field on Monday, Andress’s performance came as a curveball.
Her wobbly rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner was easily the most memorable point of the evening — and has already achieved viral fame.
Within minutes of the Grammy-nominated country singer’s last note, baseball fans shared the clip to X.
On Tuesday afternoon, as the performance continued to be shared online, the 32-year-old singer released a statement, explaining that she was inebriated while she sang.
“I’m not going to bulls— y’all, I was drunk last night,” Andress wrote on social media. “I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need. That was not me last night.”
“I apologize to MLB, all the fans, and this country I love so much for that rendition,” she continued. “I’ll let y’all know how rehab is I hear it’s super fun.”
Her explanation drew sympathy, but before that her critics have had more than enough to say.
“My ears are bleeding,” one X user wrote. “One of the worst national anthem renditions ever.”
Another compared the rendition to a 2006 Saturday Night Live skit starring Maya Rudolph as a vivacious contest winner tasked with singing the anthem.
The comparisons to Fergie’s since-infamous 2018 NBA all-star game anthem were — perhaps expectedly — plentiful, proving a flubbed U.S. national anthem can linger for years in the cultural zeitgeist.
As is usually the case, the criticism over Andress’s rendition led some to share their all-time favourite national anthem performances from artists including Meatloaf, Chris Stapleton and Whitney Houston.
Andress is a four-time Grammy nominee best known for her folksy country songs More Hearts Than Mine and Wishful Drinking.
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Her national anthem performance came as she announced a new single, called Colorado 9, to be released on July 24.
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