Ahead of the Super Bowl, Beyonce says take that, haters!

You’ve probably heard by now, Beyonce performed at last week’s presidential inauguration.  I say performed, because she was accused of, and subsequently admitted to, lip syncing the national anthem.  Ms. Knowles has received quite a bit of flack for lip-syncing, and unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard about the incident or seen one of the many jokes flying around the social sites.  We’ve got to admit, she may have set herself up for those.

What people may not have seen coming, however, is how Beyonce handled the ridicule.  She didn’t hide, lie, or try to shift blame.  No, not even a little bit.  Instead, she walked up to the podium at a press conference for the upcoming Super Bowl (where she will be performing at half time) and belted out a very impressive rendition of the National Anthem.  A capella.  I don’t think anyone was doubting her vocal abilities after that impromptu performance.

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Yeah.

So why did she lip sync at the inauguration? “I did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra,” said the singer. “Due to no proper sound check, I did not feel comfortable taking a risk. It was about the president and the inauguration, and I wanted to make him and my country proud, so I decided to sing along with my pre-recorded track, which is very common in the music industry. And I’m very proud of my performance.”

What about the Super Bowl, will she pull something out of the archives on Sunday? Nope.  Beyonce says she’ll “absolutely be singing live” for the event’s halftime show.  A halftime show that is currently reported to be garnering more interest (and projected viewers) than the actual game, which is a first for the big game.  Some are even saying that more viewers will tune in for this year’s halftime show than the estimated 112 million that tuned in to see Madonna last year.  Madonna’s music sales tripled after last year’s performance, a bonus that we likely won’t hear Beyonce complaining about.  It makes you wonder a bit, did she plan the inauguration controversy to ramp up interest before her halftime show this weekend and subsequent tour that she’s launching this spring?  Or did her genuine response to the criticism just happen to work out in her favor?