Beyonce has had some major ups and down this week. One day after her triumphant rendition of the National Anthem at the Inauguration ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Jan. 21, a rep for the U.S. Marine Corp Band told several media outlets that the superstar, 31, chose to lip-synch the song over a pre-recorded track at the last minute.
Although the Grammy winner and her team have remained silent about the "Star Spangled Banner" fracas, a source confirms to Us Weekly that she did, in fact, use a backing track for her performance in front of the U.S. Capitol. "She didn't think there was anything wrong with it," the source explains. "Pavarotti has done it! It was freezing out, and if she messed up just one note, that would have been the story."
(Even Aretha Franklin, who sang live at the 2009 inauguration, defended Beyonce, noting to ABC, "the weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees and for most singers that is just not good singing weather.")
Continues the source: "Everybody uses these tracks, and the music director advised it. Any big outdoor live performance is almost always with some kind of track."
Still, the insider clarifies that Beyonce didn't completely lip-sync the song: "She did sing, but used a track."
The source concedes that Blue Ivy's mom — most recently spotted in New Orleans — is disappointed by the so-called controversy: "A technicality which everybody does took away from the beauty of the moment."
