Sheryl Lee Ralph is lifting her voice in response to her groundbreaking performance.
Moments after the Abbott Elementary star performed "Lift Every Voice and Sing" at the 2023 Super Bowl on Feb. 12, the actress addressed speculation she was lip-syncing during the event, telling The Hollywood Reporter, "Does it matter? Does it matter? No. Thank you."
As Sheryl explained, she is still flying high from being selected to perform in front of millions.
"It's just so amazing that they chose me," she continued. "And then the Eagles are in the Super Bowl. I mean, come on. You know God must be a woman because all of this is just too perfect."
As for the responses to her performance she's truly basking in? It's been those who immediately sang nothing but her praises.
"The way people have been coming back, they said, ‘Girl, you made the pre-show look like it was trying to be halftime,'" she said. And with a nod to pregnant headliner Rihanna, Sheryl continued, "They said, ‘The costume. The wardrobe. The hair. The shoes. The makeup.' I was just like, ‘Well, thank you. Fenty of it all, hey.'"
As the actress—who recently won an Emmy and Critics' Choice Award for her role in Abbott Elementary—noted, her performance is just the latest cherry on top of the current recognition that she is grateful to receive.
"All I can do is thank God—that God would deliver me all these flowers at this point in my career," she told the outlet. "There's so many people that have written me off and said, ‘Well, that's it for her.' And if it had been, that's all for me, everybody would've said, ‘Well, she had a great career.' But now it's going from great to OK, that's pretty damn amazing. How fantastic."
Ahead of the Super Bowl, Sheryl pointed out the cultural significance of being able to perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing" on that particular date.
"It is no coincidence that I will be singing the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing at the Super Bowl on the same date it was first publicly performed 123 years ago (February 12, 1900)," she wrote in a Feb. 12 Instagram post. "Happy Black History Month!"