I pulled a Christina folks!

As I'm sure many of you either watched...or heard shortly after, Christa Aguilera made a mistake singing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLV.  I was appalled.  As a singer, who has performed in front of thousands, I thought for sure that she shouldn't have made such a mistake.  I was arguing about it all night with people who were making excuses for her, like the nerves, or the crowd, or the echo...I just didn't find it expectable.

As I was preparing to sing the National Anthem for the Omaha Storm Chasers tryouts, I focused solely on the lyrics.  I have sang the National Anthem thousands of times, from small audiences to the Miss America stage in 2008.  It is one of those songs where you just sing, and don't think about the words while doing so.  Because it is then, that the mistakes happen.

I was in Oak View mall, lined up behind about 12 singers who were also auditioning when I saw Mike DiGiacomo from The Morning Blend in Omaha (we met at the Dancing with The Stars event).  I whispered his name to say hello.  He later got my attention saying, "They are letting YOU sing?!"  as to which I replied with a little shake off the shoulder, as in a, "duh, they are!" kind of response.  While in line I could feel the nerves creep up on people around me so I decided to engage in some conversation.  I talked to a man behind me and he asked if I did this kind of thing often.  I told him I was involved in pageants and sang the National Anthem tons of times and gave him some encouragement too.  As it was my turn to sing, the announcer welcomed me as "Miss Omaha 2011, Kayla Batt."  I took the mic and began to sing.  "Oh, say can you see"...Wow, look at all the people here..."by the dawns early light"...I wonder who's in the mascot suits..."what so proudly we hailed"...I'm hungry, maybe I'll grab some RedMango later..."at the twilights last gleaming"...I like that girls shirt!....
...WHAT'S NEXT?!?!?

You guessed it...I FORGOT THE WORDS!  They just left me.

I turned to the man on the side of the stage and asked to start over but he told me just to keep going.  As a man prompted me in the audience, I continued singing and I hope with all my heart that I sang the rest of the words right because at this moment I don't know if I did!  As I left the mall I called my director Marianne to complain about my performance.  "I forgot the stinkin' words, Marianne!  I've NEVER done that before!"
"Well," she said, "you pulled a Christina!"

Needless to say, karma bit me in the butt with this and I have learned my lesson.  As for the audition, I still don't know if I will get the chance to sing, but I have heard from a couple sources that despite the loss of words, I sang it beautifully.  Hopefully I will get the chance to perform, without forgetting the words, for the Storm Chasers.

A hint of embarrassment and a lesson learned,
Kayla
Miss Omaha