Recently, a controversy (albeit a small one) erupted around Beyonce.  The singer was slotted to perform the National Anthem at the President's inauguration and someone, I'm assuming her, made the decision to pre-record it and lip-synch it.

The ensuing fuss was probably more than was needed, but I found it not to be as indicative of her talent or wisdom as much as commentary on us.  The problem isn't whether she was good enough to perform it live, but rather our obsession with presentation over substance.

Her defenders claimed that it was such a big event (gag!) that it was important not to make a mistake.  They point out how difficult the song is to sing, as if we don't hear it performed hundreds of times a year before every sporting event from people from all walks of life.  They even point out Christina Aguilera's public blundering of the song as evidence.

I say that Beyonce should be and is, a talented enough performer to be able to go out and just sing the damn song.  She even proved it at a later press conference (an odd display at best).  The real problem is the fear of making even the slightest blunder that would heap ridicule upon her, perhaps virally and for generations to come.  We somehow have lost our priority of the talent, the performance, the meaning and the heart over the show.  Instead of just singing the song and expressing love for her country, she (and perhaps us) were focused on the perfect performance.  It was more important for there not to be any mistakes than it was to be real.

Beyonce is a wonderful performer and soon after had the misfortune of being given the opportunity to perform at halftime of the Super Bowl, an almost impossible task that is rarely done well.  From someone who usually doesn't like her type of music, I actually enjoy her.  Unfortunately what I saw at the Super Bowl was embarrassing.  Not embarassing to her, but to us.  There was no lip-synching (especially not after the inauguration).  Instead, we got to watch all of her songs played over the sound system while she went up on stage and danced with her back-up dancers.  She threw a lyric in or two over her own pre-recorded voice, but really barely even sang the songs.  Yes I know, I know how difficult it is to sing while you're dancing that hard.

There was little commentary on how ridiculous the whole display was, not that I was looking for this poor, beautiful woman to be lambasted again by the media.  It was just embarrassing to be made so evident what our focus is on when it comes to talent and performance.

Juxtapose that with the singing of America the Beautiful before the Super Bowl by the kids choir from Newtown.  The quality of the performance was very good, but was completely irrelevant in relation to the spirit of the performance.  Seeing the smiles on those kids was truly magical and I doubt there was a dry eye on the field or at home.  Jennifer Hudson, a truly elite talent was magnificent in joining in as well.