Christina Aguilera Explains National Anthem Flub

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Christina Aguilera is well aware that she made a boo-boo while singing the National Anthem opening up Sunday's Super Bowl XLV. Singing Francis Scott Key's "The Star-Spangled Banner" live at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the singer, 30, flubbed the lyrics – trilling "what so proudly we watched" instead of the correct lyrics, "o'er the ramparts we watched."

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So what happened?

Aguilera opened up about the gaffe in a statement. "I got so caught up in the moment of the song that I lost my place," says the star. "I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through."

Prior to the performance, the veteran entertainer said she was psyched to sing the patriotic ditty before millions of viewers.

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"I have been performing the anthem since I was seven years old and I must say the Super Bowl is a dream come true...I am really excited to be part of such an iconic event."

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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