{"id":7541,"date":"2026-01-31T10:14:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T10:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=7541"},"modified":"2026-01-31T10:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T10:14:29","slug":"im-officially-retired-from-it-chris-stapleton-sang-the-star-spangled-banner-once-at-the-super-bowl-and-never-again-not-out-of-fear-not-because-of-backlash-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=7541","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m officially retired from it.\u201d Chris Stapleton sang The Star-Spangled Banner once at the Super Bowl \u2014 and never again. Not out of fear. Not because of backlash. But because he knew some moments are meant to happen only once. The performance that left an entire stadium silent, brought coaches to tears, and is still considered the greatest national anthem of the decade. \ud83d\udc49 Why Chris Stapleton walked away at the peak \u2014 and why he has nothing left to prove. WATCH FULL BELOW \ud83d\udc47\ud83d\udc47\ud83d\udc47"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Why Chris Stapleton \u201cOfficially Retired\u201d From Performing The National Anthem After Just One Iconic Super Bowl Performance<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Chris<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Don\u2019t expect to see the great\u00a0Chris Stapleton<\/strong>\u00a0on the 50-yard line this February\u2026 or any other time for that matter. With Super Bowl LX right around corner, fans are already wondering about the customary national anthem performance, and gamblers in particular, are wondering how long it\u2019s going to run. Charlie Puth is slated to handle the Star Spangled Banner this year, but as talented as the man is, he\u2019s certainly no Chris Stapleton. He\u2019s not Whitney Houston either\u2026<\/p>\n

Chris Stapleton\u2019s 2023 masterpiece, a rendition so soul-stirring that it brought Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni to tears, among others, remains the most-watched anthem of the decade. The performance left everyone wondering why the the 10-time GRAMMY winner doesn\u2019t sing it every year, but Chris revealed that he\u2019s hanging up the \u201cBanner\u201d for good. And honestly, I don\u2019t blame him. I think there\u2019s more pressure on the person singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl than the halftime performance\u2026 those are so subjective, and how much you like it probably depends purely on how much you like the artist performing.<\/p>\n

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Of course, Bad Bunny is set to perform this year\u2026\u00a0in a dress apparently<\/strong>\u2026 so you already know it\u2019s going to get torn to shreds by good chunk of the American population. The Donald Trump-hating California rock band, Green Day, is also set to perform the pre-show, so in this hyper-divisive political climate, it certainly sounds like the NFL is trying to send a message. We\u2019ll save that conversation for another blog\u2026<\/p>\n

But the anthem is a completely different thing, and a hard enough song to sing as it is\u2026 so when it comes to the biggest sporting event of the year, with millions of eyes on one person singing one of America\u2019s most sacred songs, it\u2019s just so hard to pull off. If you nail it, you did your job, and if you mess it up\u2026 you\u2019re the biggest failure in all of music and you\u2019ll never live it down. Eric Church performed the Super Bowl anthem a few years back after avoiding it for his entire career\u2026 he even said \u201cHonestly, there\u2019s just more to lose than to gain.\u201d And he\u2019s right\u2026 that\u2019s absolutely what the stakes are.<\/p>\n

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Chris Stapleton \u201cRetires\u201d<\/h2>\n

\"Why<\/p>\n

Chris has said before that he\u00a0used to joke about<\/strong>\u00a0singing the anthem at the Super Bowl, and now that he\u2019s done it and nailed it, he told Dale Earnhardt Jr. on an episode of his\u00a0Dirty Mo Media<\/em>\u00a0podcast recently that he\u2019s officially retired from doing it ever again, and he even credited the editing for making the performance even better:<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, I practiced that one. I don\u2019t get nervous to play, necessarily\u2026 that one, I was like I\u2019m gonna make sure I\u2019m as prepared as I can be for this. I would have people ask me to sing the National Anthem for various things, and I jokingly always said, \u2018No, I\u2019ll just do it when it\u2019s time to do it at the Super Bowl,\u2019 you know.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

And I just turned it down a lot, and I do say now that I\u2019ve officially retired from it as well. And I have to give credit to, and I\u2019m not saying my version wasn\u2019t wasn\u2019t good, I think it was good, but all the TV editing that they did while I was doing it was just spot on.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Everything that they did to make that moment feel as big and nice as it could, they did it. And they executed flawlessly. So, yes, I prepared for that and yes, I worked on that. Genuinely nerve-racking, and I was live live. There was no pre-record anything.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Never once in my life have I ever thought Chris Stapleton has pre-recorded anything\u2026 he doesn\u2019t need to. But I totally understand him being completely done with it. Ride out in a blaze of glory, as one of the two best ever performances and call it a career. You have nothing left to prove.<\/p>\n

Dale Jr. also asked if he was able to build confidence throughout the song, once it started going well, but Chris confirmed that he was locked in from the beginning. It\u2019s all about focus during the anthem\u2026 you\u2019re not trying to crush as much as you are trying NOT to mess it up:<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have a thing in my personality that the more pressure there is like that, it makes me focus more and I think that I realize that I was doing something good in the moment. I don\u2019t know, I realized I was not messing up.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>That was my goal, was to not mess up. Not mess up the words not flub a guitar lick or anything\u2026 that was my goal, was to get through it to a degree that, alright, I executed the national anthem without insulting the National Anthem.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

He said his team seemed happy with it, so he was content in knowing he didn\u2019t blow it and could relax and watch the game:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the people that were around me were real happy about it. Yeah, and so I was like, \u2018Alright.\u2019 And then I can drop my shoulders a little bit and go \u2018Okay, I did the thing, let\u2019s go watch the football game.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That might be an understatement\u2026 everyone LOVED it. Luke Combs was famously sitting next to Adele at the Super Bowl and he confirmed that\u00a0she was going absolutely bonkers<\/strong>\u00a0during the performance. Pink was utterly blown away, Travis Kelce was stunned\u2026 he even admits he\u2019ll throw it on when he\u2019s having a sad day, just to have a good cry.<\/p>\n

It was the best ever\u2026 one and done, forever living in<\/p>\n