ABC/ Lou Rocco(PHOENIX) — Idina Menzel knows that in addition to betting on who wins Sunday’s Super Bowl, people are also placing fun bets — so-called “prop bets” — on things like how long it’ll take her to sing the national anthem or if she’ll forget the words.
For the record, she’s fine with that — in fact, she’s willing to help folks win their bets if she possibly can.
“Oh, I love it. If they’re talking about me at the Super Bowl, I like it!” Menzel told ABC News. “I can’t help them though because I haven’t timed it yet! But I’ve been promising some people, if they let me know, I can maybe, like, glance up at the clock and then hold the vibrato a little longer and try to work it out!”
While Menzel has performed the national anthem before, this is her first time doing it at the Super Bowl. The “Let It Go” singer admitted that she’s a bit nervous, but added that for her, that’s normal.
“I get nervous whenever I perform,” she said. “I think it’s just something, as a live performer, you get used to, and you try to rein it in and learn how to work with it, and that’s just what we do.”
But she said she realizes the enormity of taking on a role that everyone from Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson and Beyoncé have taken on over the years. She says one Super Bowl anthem performance made a particular impression on her.
“Ever since I saw Whitney Houston do it at the Super Bowl, I would emulate her as a singer, and she was a huge idol of mine,” she said. “And…y’know, everyone under the sun has done the song…I can’t do it better than she did it. So I’ve just got to bring my own thing to it. I’m just trying to you know, connect with people.”
In addition to connecting, Menzel said she really is going to make an effort to remember the meaning of the national anthem and what it represents.
“You start to forget that kind of stuff when you get lost in this kind of moment and swept away,” she said. “And it’s really a beautiful song, amazing melody. And so, I’m gonna kind of sing it for our troops and people like that overseas and remember what it’s really about.”
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