Grammy-Award winner Heather Headley was tasked with performing the United States’ national anthem ahead of the 2025 MLB Home Run Derby. And it wasn’t hard to top last year’s rendition.
The 50-year-old sung a slowed down rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner ahead of the baseball festivities.
However, despite the occasional fan complaining that the somber version sounded like a funeral dirge, most admitted it was instantly an improvement from last year’s performance.
Country music artist Ingrid Andress faced fierce criticism for her rendition ahead of the 2024 edition of the competition. Social media users slammed it as ‘the worst national anthem ever,’ after she attempted to sing Francis Scott Key’s lyrics in a shrill and off-key rendition.
The songstress later confessed to being drunk while wailing into the microphone and announced that she would be checking into rehab following the disaster.
And baseball fans celebrated Headley’s sober – yet somber – performance on Monday night.
MLB fans celebrated Heather Headley’s national anthem ahead of the MLB Home Run Derby
Last year, Ingrid Andress went off key during her performance of the Star-Spangled Banner
‘Probably the best year-over-year improvement on the HR Derby National Anthem you’ll ever witness #NeverForget,’ one user posted to X alongside a photo of Andress on the field last year.
‘Damn, I was hoping we’d have another drunk national anthem #HomeRunDerby,’ another joked referring to Andress’s performance under influence.
‘At least the national anthem was better this season,’ a third chimed in, while a fourth agreed adding: ‘Better national anthem then last year lmao.’
Meanwhile, for others, all they could talk about was last year’s trainwreck, with Headley’s performance dredging up memories of Andress’s horror show.
‘Yall remember last years national anthem for the HRD,’ one fan wrote, as another echoed: ‘Remember when the chick did the national anthem blacked out.’
Others praised Headley for her rendition, claiming she delivered a ‘beautiful’ version of Francis Scott Key’s poem.
‘national anthem sung simply but with emotion. loved it. plus i love flyovers,’ one gushed.
A second added: ‘Heather Headley just nailed the National Anthem at the HR Derby.. #HomeRunDerby #mlballstars.’
Headley’s performance sparked recollections of the country singer’s ‘drunk’ rendition
However, others weren’t on as positive, seemingly still not satisfied with the performance.
‘Can we get a better National Anthem for the Home Run derby this years topped last easily but the ending was meh,’ one claimed.
‘Oh this national anthem at the HR Derby is not it…. yikes ,’ another critiqued.
A third questioned: ‘Why do people always sing the national anthem like they’re mourning it? FFS, sing it with some passion.’
Despite their criticisms, Headley’s version was still, at the very least, an improvement from last year’s competition when Andress contorted the iconic melody into a shrill, somber death march.
At least one player, the Phillies’ Alec Bohm, cracked a smile during the rendition, while attendees at Globe Life Field in Arlington quickly joined in to compete with Andress’ sharp, crackling voice.
More than a few fans reacted on social media by sharing photos of Donald Trump’s bleeding ear from this weekend’s shooting in Pennsylvania. Others simply made vague references to the failed assassination attempt, but the joke was clear nonetheless.
Andress later broke her silence to admit that she had been drunk, revealing she planned to check into a rehab facility after her performance was panned.
‘I’m not gonna bulls**t y’all, I was drunk last night,’ she wrote on social media after her wildly off-key performance Monday night became national news.
Other fans were left divided over Headley with some critiquing it and others gushing over it
‘I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need. That was not me last night. I apologize to MLB, all the fans, and this country I love so much for that rendition. I’ll let y’all know how rehab is. I hear it’s super fun,’ she added, before signing off, ‘xo, Ingrid.’
In March, after taking several months to focus on herself, she finally opened up on the ‘global humiliation.’
‘It only took, you know, global humiliation for me to be like “this is a problem,”‘ Andress said Thursday on ‘The Viall Files’. ‘I was so gone that afterward, I thought that I like, kind of nailed it.’
Andress recalled taking the field ‘not caring’ about how her performance would go and it was not until the next morning when she sobered up and realized what had transpired.
‘I was like, “Okay, this is so unlike me, like, this is not okay,'” Andress said.
Andress admitted to heavily drinking for three months before her infamous national anthem.
In the lead-up, her sister moved out of her house, Andress spilt with her first manager, and she broke up with her ‘very serious’ boyfriend around the same time.
‘I didn’t realize how much I didn’t let myself process those emotions of grief,’ Andress said.
Andress is now back in the spotlight after releasing a new single and successfully singing the national anthem for the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche in February.