Ingrid Andress sings the national anthem before the 2024 Home Run Derby at Globe Life Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Monday.
Daniel Shirey/MLB Photo via Getty Images
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Daniel Shirey/MLB Photo via Getty Images
Ingrid Andress, the country music star who became famous Monday night after singing the national anthem incorrectly at MLB’s Home Run Derby, said she was intoxicated during the performance and is seeking help.
“I’m not going to lie, I was drunk last night,” Andress posted on Instagram“Today I will be going to a medical facility on my own to get the help I need. I did not last night. I apologize to MLB, all the fans and the country I love so much for that action.”
Most days, Andress has a beautiful voice. She performed a Tiny Desk Concert Charm just last year, in case you wanted proof that Andress can sing. (I was in the room! She can sing, and she’s pretty good too!) But Andress isn’t traditionally belt; her talents lie in her powers of observation and conversation, as well as her ability to grasp subtle truths without exaggerating them.
Plus, unless your name is Whitney Houston“The Star-Spangled Banner” is a famous a difficult song to sing (many high and low notes, not easy to sing melody) in a grand, prominent setting creating a strong bombast.
On a normal day, Andress isn’t the singer you turn to when you’re in the mood for something epic. Combine that with her state of mind on Monday night, and you can see why her “Star-Spangled Banner” quickly went off the rails.
There To be a way to handle the song without getting too heavy—to keep it subtle and restrained—and it seemed for a second at the beginning of the performance that Andress was following that tradition. But she soon started bending and curving her syllables in a hyper-stylized way, and that seemed to set off a chain reaction as she strayed further and further on her way to the power notes.
Before Andress revealed the reason for the disaster, the viral video seemed like the lighthearted relief many of us needed after a week of bad news. But at least the singer kept her sense of humor about it. She ended her Instagram post with this:
“I will let everyone know how the rehabilitation process goes.[.] I hear it’s fun.”
