Reba McEntire was just announced as the performer for the national anthem for Super Bowl LVIII, taking place on Sunday, February 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The 68-year-old got her start singing the national anthem, which is how she got discovered, and her now-legendary career began. But experience aside, the song is notoriously one of the most challenging songs to sing, but it’s a challenge McEntire is willing to accept.
“I’ve been singing the national anthem a long time,” McEntire told CBS News. “But I started in 1974, singing the national anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. So I sang the national anthem there for ten years. How you get ready for it, you just warm up like you do a concert and sing it about five or six times, and get in there, and do it.”
How I met y'all. I’m still here. pic.twitter.com/RiwDVPBMM4
— Reba McEntire (@reba) January 18, 2024
Fans can thank McEntire’s longtime boyfriend, Rex Linn, for her accepting the gig. It was McEntire’s manager who reached out to the Grand Ole Opry member with the invitation, one she didn’t immediately accept.
“He said that they wanted me to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl, and I said ‘Oh my gosh. Well, let me think about that,'” McEntire recalled. “And Rex Linn, my boyfriend, who is a huge football fan, he said, ‘Yes, she’ll do it. Absolutely.’ So that’s where we’re at.”
McEntire has, perhaps surprisingly, never performed at a Super Bowl before. But she was featured in a Fritos commercial in 1995, unaware at the time how much was still in store for her in country music.
“I’d tell that little girl, ‘Hang in there. Don’t take things so seriously, and have fun,'” McEntire said.
McEntire previously said she was eager to kick off 2024, which includes her returning for her second season as a coach on The Voice, and more time with Linn, whom she began dating in 2020.
“I’m at a really good place in my life,” McEntire told People. “I’m happy. I’m in love. My kids are all healthy. My family’s healthy. So I’m happy.”
It’s fitting that Linn was the one who talked McEntire into singing at the Super Bowl, since he has been one of her biggest champions since their relationship began.
“He’s a very supportive man,” McEntire said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. “I love him with all my heart,”
Post Malone will sing “America the Beautiful,” while Andra Day will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Super Bowl LVIII will air on CBS.
