For the Record, NFL Cleans Up Alicia Keys' Super Bowl Vocal

Stumble apparent in live performance disappears in official version
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2024 7:45 PM CST
For the Record, NFL Cleans Up Alicia Keys' Super Bowl Vocal
Alicia Keys performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas.   (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

The stage was set for Alicia Keys' surprise performance Sunday in the Super Bowl halftime show to be memorable, cameras gradually closing in to show the singer seated at a red grand piano, wearing a red dress with a huge matching and glimmering cape behind her. But as she began her 2003 hit "If I Ain't Got You," and the cape floated away, Keys endured a stumble that clashed with the grandness of the moment: Her voice cracked. The snag didn't escape attention; reviewers and online posters pointed it out. But that was Sunday. Early Monday, the NFL posted the show on its YouTube page, the Washington Post reports, and in that version, Keys' vocal is perfectly smooth.

Social media posts put the two versions side by side, per Variety. Representatives of the NFL, sponsor Apple Music, and Keys did not respond to requests for comment. But her husband, music producer Swizz Beatz, reacted sharply. "Y'all talking about the wrong damn thing," he posted on Instagram, adding, "We don't do negative vibes on this side we make history." The NFL's better-than-live version can be found here. (More Super Bowl halftime stories.)

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