Who is the biggest Diva of them all? The U.S. National Anthem, which borrows its melody from a historic British drinking song, has undergone enormous musical change in the hands of pop music vocalists. Famously, José Feliciano, Marvin Gaye and Whitney Houston each changed the meaning of "The Star Spangled Banner" by finding new approaches to the performance. Countless others have followed in their footsteps. Now every major sporting event is an excuse for pop divas to make their own creative interpretation. So who does it best? Or worst? Jan Diehm and Michelle McGhee, data journalists at The Pudding, analyzed the pitch fluctuations of over a hundred famous performances to answer these questions and more.
Check out Jan and Michelle's full analysis at pudding.cool
Sign up for the Switched On Pop Newsletter
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Taylor Swift's Literary Era
Lost Notes: How Fela Kuti Found Afrobeat in LA
Berlin's Hottest Club is Rico Nasty & Boys Noize
Chasing old sounds: Djo's "End of Beginning" with Joe Keery
Cowboy Carter: This Ain't Country
Hip-hop's Sea Change at Rolling Loud
Rhapsody in Blue, Reimagined
Eternal Sunshine of Ariana Grande's Mind
How to DIY a Music Career (with Amelia Meath and David Gray at SXSW)
Is Beyoncé's music #sponcon? And other mysteries LIVE in Brooklyn
Jacob Collier unites the world
Beyoncé's Country
Adult Contemporary, but make it cool (with CHROMEO)
Brittany Howard's Chaos Theory (with Brittany Howard)
The b*tch of loving musical theater (with Bridger Winegar)
Kali Uchis takes on the world
Soundalikes: Lil Nas X and Ariana Grande
The case of the missing vocals, and other listener questions
Too Fast? We’re Curious: The sped-up remix phenomenon - ICYMI
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Good One: A Podcast About Jokes
The Vulture TV Podcast
Vulture Festival Podcast
The Vulture TV Podcast