Watch: Michelle Williams performs national anthem ahead of NFL 2021 kickoff

The much-awaited
2021 regular season of the National Football League (NFL) got underway on
Thursday with the Tampa Bay Bucaneers taking on the Dallas Cowboys at the Raymod
James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

The Tom Brady-led
side are aiming to become the first to win back-to-back Super Bowls, since
the ace quarter-back led the New England Patriots to consecutive titles in 2003
and 2004.

The Bucaneers,
among the preseason favourites to lift their third championship this year,
unveiled the Super Bowl banner in front of a packed stadium prior to kickoff,
which was followed by a rendition of the national anthem by former Destiny’s
Child singer Michelle Williams.

Watch the performance here:

The
performance was widely praised on Twitter, with former star wide receiver Chand
Johnson saying, “Michelle killed the National Anthem”.

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Meanwhile,
Grammy Award-winning singer Victory Boyd’s scheduled performance of the
national anthem was cancelled as she was not vaccinated.  

In an email to the singer’s father and manager John Boyd, NFL Senior Director for Media and Entertainment Events Seth Dudowsky confirmed they were “unable to invite” Boyd for the performance. 

“As I understand that Victory will not be fully vaccinated by the time of the Kickoff game, she would not have been able to comply with the terms of the Game Day Field Access Policy,” digitalmusicnews.com quoted Dudowsky as saying. 

According to NFL Game Day Field Access Policy, all individuals who will enter the playing field are required to be fully vaccinated.

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“I’ve made peace with not being able to sing the National Anthem tomorrow for the Tampa Bay Bucaneers,” Boyd wrote on Instagram. “If I want to take the vaccine, the decision will be between myself, my doctor and my God,” she added. 

Meanwhile, boradcaster NBC aired a performance of Lift Every Voice, also known as the ‘Black National Anthem’, by singer Alicia Keys and the Florida A&M University Concert Choir. 

The NFL had earlier announced its intention to continue social justice showing messages throughout the 2021 season with this performance a part of the plan. 

This has been somewhat controversial among some fans and commentators, who have argued that politics should be kept out of sport.