If one of the Super Bowl’s more recent, and welcome traditions the performance of Lift Every Voice and Sing returns to the biggest game on the calendar. This year Andra Day will take the microphone to perform one of the three major songs ahead of kickoff.
Day has been one of the fastest-rising R&B/soul singers since releasing her first album “Cheers to the Fall” in 2015. Her single “Rise Up” went multi-platinum in the U.S. and well as Britain. It was off the back of this album that Day’s singing and acting chops were put to the test when she was cast as Billie Holiday in the 2021 film The United States vs. Billie Holiday, which earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress in the title role, as well as winning a Golden Globe.
This has largely propelled Day into acting, more than recording music. She is set to have two upcoming major roles in 2024, starring in Exhibiting Forgiveness, which earned critical praise at the Sundance Film Festival, with The Deliverance set to release on Netflix later this year.
Lift Every Voice and Sing has become a critical element of the Super Bowl pre-game. Written by James Weldon Johnson and brother J. Rosamond Johnson in 1900, the spiritual has been named the official “Negro national anthem” by the NAACP. Its performance not only embraces the unparalleled contribution by black athletes to the NFL, but also commemorates the February Super Bowl taking place during Black History Month.
