Beyonce belts out national anthem at Super Bowl news conference

By August Brown

Jan. 31, 2013 12 AM PT

All those who doubted Beyonce’s vocal prowess in the wake of the Obama inaugural “Lip-Sync-Gate” should find a corner suitable for shamed cowering.

At a Thursday news conference tied to her upcoming Super Bowl halftime show appearance, the superstar singer quickly and judiciously killed any doubts that she can tackle the national anthem -- live and a capella.

Before making any Super Bowl statements or taking a single question, Beyonce asked the assembled members of the media to stand. Then she reeled off a triumphant and definitively backing-track-less version of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the gob-smacked audience. (Watch the video below.)

It wasn’t quite as incendiary as her pre-taped inaugural version, but it didn’t have to be. It just proved that Beyonce, in her beneficence, will still occasionally descend into the mortal realm to quell any skeptics of her powers.

Then she closed with a succinct “Any questions?” -- whereupon Jay-Z stood up, clapping and crying a single tear of exalted awe (or at least, that’s what we like to imagine happening).

Bey confirmed that, yes, she did use a pre-recorded backing track at the inaugural because she was a “perfectionist.” But as for her Super Bowl appearance? “I will absolutely be singing live,” she said. “This is what I was born to do.”