Super Bowl LX viewers give their verdict on Charlie Puth's polarizing national anthem

Santa Clara, Calif. — Moments after fans unfurled America 250 rally towels and settled in for the league’s pre-kickoff “card stunt,” Charlie Puth stepped onto a spare stage at Levi’s Stadium and delivered a Star-Spangled Banner that instantly split the NFL’s massive television audience.

The 34-year-old pop craftsman, best known for his 2015 hook on Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” wore a black bomber jacket and tie, singing over a lone piano while a white-clad orchestra surrounded him and pyro streaked the sky. Players lining the sideline stood with hands over hearts; inside living rooms and sports bars, viewers reached for their phones.

Social media lit up before the echo of the final note faded. Admirers praised the rendition’s modern phrasing: “Charlie Puth added some soul and seasoning to this national anthem,” one X user posted. Another argued the performance eclipsed anything on his studio albums. Detractors were equally swift: “The National Anthem just put me to sleep,” a viewer countered, while a harsher critic labeled it “the worst national anthem in Super Bowl history.” Several complained Puth had refashioned the anthem into a pop ballad, lacking the gravitas many associate with the ritual.

The mixed reception stood in contrast to the near-universal applause that greeted Coco Jones’s rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” minutes earlier, and to the memory of Jon Batiste’s exuberant Super Bowl LIX interpretation last year in New Orleans.

Puth’s appearance carried extra scrutiny from the moment Roc Nation and the NFL announced him in December. According to the singer, he secured the slot only after privately submitting a demo to Jay-Z and the Roc Nation team, the league’s live-entertainment strategists since the 2020 Shakira-Jennifer Lopez halftime show. Though Puth has built a touring career—his largest headlining crowd, 22,000, came during 2018’s Honda Civic Tour at Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheatre—Sunday marked his first time singing the anthem at a major U.S. sporting event.

With kickoff behind him and anticipation now shifting to Bad Bunny’s halftime spectacle—and to Turning Point USA’s competing Kid Rock event—Puth’s polarizing moment will linger as an early talking point of Super Bowl LX, a game already surrounded by the pageantry of the league’s America 250 celebration.