Beyoncé Lip-Syncing Controversy: Here's Why She Faked It

Director of the U.S. Marine Band dishes on why the R&B songstress decided not to belt out "The Star Spangled Banner" live

By Josh Grossberg Jan 22, 2013 9:30 PMTags
BeyonceMark Wilson/Getty Images

Sure, we can understand how President Barack Obama might flub taking the oath of office as he did (again!) at Monday's inauguration ceremony.

But just why on earth did Beyoncé decide—with that amazing voice of hers—to lip-sync the national anthem?!

The Marine Colonel in charge of the U.S. Marine Corps Band at yesterday's proceedings not only confirmed that the diva did indeed use a prerecorded rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner," but explained exactly why she chose to go with it.

Col. Michael J. Colburn, who serves as the director of the prestigious group, told NBC News that all music is prerecorded in case of bad weather (for instance, if it's too cold instruments and equipment may not work as well) and the band and the artist make a decision about whether to perform it live or not, often on the day of the inauguration.

He told the network that in Beyoncé's case, she has been busy prepping for her Super Bowl halftime performance so she didn't have time to rehearse the song properly with the Marine Band. Consequently, she expressed concern about that and Col. Colburn revealed he agreed, noting that any artist would be uncomfortable under those circumstances.

So he said organizers played the prerecorded track while the band "created a visual simulation of playing" to maintain the illusion since they were on camera.

As for B, he noted that "it looked and sounded like she was singing her heart out" from where he was standing by the band, but he really didn't know whether she was actually singing over the track playing, adding that only the sound person and Beyoncé herself would know that.

A rep for the Grammy winner has not commented.

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