On Sunday, Charlie Puth will follow in the footsteps of stars like Billy Joel, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera and Kelly Clarkson when he sings the national anthem at the Super Bowl. And he said he's been thinking about how to make the song his own since he got the job in November.
"The arrangement is everything for me," Charlie said at the Apple Music Super Bowl 60 pregame show press conference in San Francisco on Thursday. "I always reverse engineer how I hear my own music in my head and then it's kind of just like pulling it apart and making it a feasible product. ... So I've been rehearsing this in my head for months, if that makes sense."
At one point during the press conference, Charlie slipped into his "Professor Puth" persona, explaining that the anthem is a "very musically difficult song to sing" because he has to hit "five more notes above the octave."
But when asked what he wants fans to take away from his rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner," Charlie said simply, "I want them to feel inspired. I want everybody to know that music is such an amazing thing and can change so many people's lives."
When the talk turned to sports, Charlie and "America the Beautiful" pregame singer Brandi Carlile admitted they were terrible athletes as children.
"I played baseball and would kick the dirt by third base. I was not good at sports," Charlie laughed. "I know that's very awkward to admit at such a sporty event, but ... I tried swimming, tennis, no. Soccer, I would do a backflip in the mud. I always heard the music in my head."
Super Bowl 60 airs on NBC Sunday night.
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