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The NFL and Apple Music appear to have altered video of Alicia Keys’s performance during the Super Bowl halftime show, editing cracks in her vocals that were heard live Sunday night.
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Keys, donning a massively flowing red dress, briefly sang her 2003 hit song “If I Ain’t Got You” during Usher’s halftime extravaganza. During the broadcast, her voice cracked as she started singing.
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But early Monday morning, the NFL published a video of the halftime show on its official YouTube page that featured an altered version of Keys’s performance with the vocals smoothed out. In the video, Keys smoothly sings the first notes and carries on without a hitch.
Social media users quickly pointed out the change in audio comparing side-by-side clips of the original video clip and the YouTube video. Representatives for the NFL, Apple Music and Keys did not respond to requests for comment.
Interested parties can still watch the original performance, at least for now. Video of the original performance, which has more than 265,000 likes, was still viewable on the NFL’s Instagram account on Monday afternoon. Many commenters on the video ribbed Keys for the botched opening notes.
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Keys was one of several artists to join Usher for his halftime performance, which included cameos from collaborators like Ludacris and Lil Jon.
Keys and Usher also performed a duet of their 2004 hit, “My Boo.” As they finished the song, Usher wrapped his arms around Keys in an embrace. Viewers on social jokingly claimed Usher’s hug was a little too friendly and that Keys’s husband Swizz Beatz, probably wouldn’t be happy with the performance.
However, Swizz Beatz responded to the backlash on Monday morning on Instagram, saying that social media users were focusing too much on the negative side of his wife’s performance.
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“Y’all talking about the wrong damn thing! Y’all don’t see that amazing dress covering the entire stadium,” he wrote.
“Tonight’s performance was nothing but amazing with 2 amazing Giants ! Congrats @usher and my love @aliciakeys that song is a classic,” he wrote. “We don’t do negative vibes on this side we make history.”
— Anne Branigin contributed to this report.
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