Beyonce: Another Lip Syncing Tragedy

By Robert Lustig on January 27, 2013

On January 21, 2013 the world watched the 57th Presidential Inauguration as President Barack Obama took the oath of office to start his second term as President of the United States. During the inauguration there was one moment in particular that truly stood out. This was recording super star Beyonce’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

The performance was considered by many to be flawless. However, it was not too long the world realized that the “flawless performance” was a result of lip syncing to a pre recorded track. That’s right:  Beyonce lip synced. As a result, several of those praises for the performance were turned into condemnation. This is not the first time an artist has been caught lip syncing. Britney Spears has been known for lip syncing during her live performances for years. Whitney Houston famously lip synced the national anthem during the 1991 Superbowl.

 However, the question remains: Do we continue to put up with artists trying to fool their fans with what is now considered one of the oldest tricks in the book?  I say no. When an artist lip syncs, he or she is insulting the crowd’s intelligence by thinking they can pass a pre recorded track for a 100% live performance.

Sometimes an artist will claim that they lip sync to compromise for the fact they are doing elaborate choreography. I can speak for the rest of America to state that the “Star Spangled Banner” is not a catchy tune that one can dance to. Yes, it may be considered a difficult song to sing, but that is no excuse to lip sync. Let’s not forget that Beyonce is a professional singer. Logically speaking, that means it is her job to sing.

By lip syncing, Beyonce was pretending to do her job. This is plain laziness.  In any other profession, this would not fly. When a neurosurgeon performs surgery to remove a malignant tumor, he or she actually operates to remove. One does not simply cut a hole in the skull and pretend to operate. This is not only unethical but in the case of a neurosurgeon, if he were to pretend to operate, he would most likely be the cause of the patient’s demise. When an artist lip syncs, there is not too much of a difference between that and fake brain surgery. Both are unethical and both result in death. And in the case of those who lip sync, I mourn for the loss of their integrity as artists.            

See video of Beyonce performing “The Star Spangled Banner”

 

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