Martha Reeves, The Star-Spangled Banner | The Flops

In the fifth edition of The Flops (2026), we examine the questionable recording of “The Star-Spangled Banner” performed live by Motown legend Martha Reeves. 

Like damn, bruh! Sis! C’mon! You thought it was bound to hit, but instead it was total shit – nothing but dookie 💩!  The songs that appear in The Flops didn’t hit, or at least many perceive them as underperforming or underwhelming for a given artist.  Flops are even more detrimental when the artist is considered a superstar and rarely misses the mark. Flops can even be successful, even if the quality sucked. Or maybe they’re not-so-bad, but they bombed on the charts.  Regardless, this is the column to highlight abject failure. In the fifth edition of The Flops (2026), we examine the questionable live performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Martha Reeves.

Or, how about, “It’s like a heat wave / Burnin’ in my heart.” There’s also “Jimmy Mack, Jimmy / Oh, Jimmy Mack / When are you coming back?” Martha Reeves is a Motown icon – an absolute legend. “Dancing in the Street”, “(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave”, and “Jimmy Mack” with The Vandellas – CLASSICS! However, even the most legendary artists can make a monumental faux pas. Reeves’ faux pas was her horrid, off-key, totally WTF rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”.  Reeves isn’t the first, and won’t be the last, to butcher America’s most important song, but her performance at the WPBL (Women’s Pro Baseball League) is an all-timer… a F-L-O-P of epic proportions! Fergie has some serious competition!

This was one of the more bizarre performances you’ll ever see and worse, HEAR 😳. Prepare for your ears to bleed something fierce… It’s that bad. On a positive note, Martha Reeves’ vocals are powerful 😏.  That is impressive for an 85-year-old. As we age, our voice diminishes, so the pipes are still there. HOWEVER, I’m not sure what key she is attempting to sing in.  Furthermore, her vibrato is… um… a lot. The warble is turned up to the nth degree. Adding to the weirdness, Reeves has two women backup singers, who are not in sync with her 😳.  You can tell an epic fail is on the horizon from the top when Reeves and her backups don’t even start singing together 😬. One of the most laughable moments occurs when Reeves goes for the jugular on “And the rockets’ red glare…” Holy moly! Holy shiitake mushrooms! Or to quote Florida Evans from Good Times (played by Esther Rolle), “Damn, damn, damn!” Also, the ladies on backup finish “Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there,” Reeves is oddly delayed on her “still there,” hence sounding like she is responding to them… Also, I can’t neglect the overwrought “Or the land of the free / And the home of the brave.”  It was nothing short of a shit-show, even if that wasn’t the intention.  And of course, the internet never forgives or forgets.  I’m not sure the players on the field will ever either… Addressing the flop-tastic anthem, according to thatgrapejuice.net, Reeves stated she was unable to hear herself, given the conditions in the stadium and lack of monitors.  Personally, I don’t want to go in too much on Reeves, who had us “Dancing in the Street”, but bad National Anthem performances always live in infamy, no matter who’s performing them.

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Martha Reeves » The Star-Spangled Banner » 2026

Martha Reeves, The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flops No. 5 (2026) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Will Oliveira from Pexels; Gordon Johnson, OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]

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