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Charlie Puth has been declared a bigger artist.
The four-time Grammy nominee, 34, performed the national anthem at Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Sunday.
Puth wore a brown leather jacket, a tie and a pair of blue jeans for his performance.
The “See You Again” singer was joined by deaf artist Fred Beam, who performed the national anthem in American Sign Language (ASL).
Puth follows Jon Batiste, who sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 2025 Super Bowl in Louisiana.
Other previous Super Bowl national anthem performers include Reba McEntire (2024), Chris Stapleton (2023), Mickey Guyton (2022) and Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan (2021).
At Apple Music’s Super Bowl Halftime Show press conference on Friday, Puth explained how he prepared for the performance.
“The best way for me specifically to approach is the arrangement is everything for me,” he told host Zane Lowe. “I always reverse engineer how I hear my own music in my head and then it’s kind of just like pulling it apart and making it a feasible product to hold. I’ve been rehearsing this in my head for months.”
Puth said he that sang a lot in the shower and in the car ahead of his performance, admitting that he felt “nerves” beforehand.
“This is a very musically difficult song to sing. It’s important not to over sing it,” he explained.
The “How Long” singer also told Lowe he wanted people to be “inspired” by his national anthem performance.
“I want everybody to know that music is such an amazing thing and can change so many people’s lives, said Puth. “Everybody loves music. It can color every aspect of your day so vividly and it’s an honor to sit here and talk about how I’m singing.”
Puth was announced as a Super Bowl performer in December — prompting backlash from some critics.
“Man we’ve fallen from when Whitney Houston sang at the Super Bowl. Charlie Puth? He’s not gonna give us vocals I’m afraid,” political commentator Link Lauren wrote on X. (Houston performed what’s considered the greatest Super Bowl national anthem performance ever in 1991).
Puth responded to Lauren’s tweet, writing, “I’ll never claim to be as good of a singer as Whitney Houston ever was. But I assure you we’re putting a really special arrangement together—in D major. It’ll be one of my best vocal performances.”
The “Light Switch” mentioned Houston’s iconic Super Bowl performance again in an interview with Rolling Stone last month.
“She’s from Newark. And I would be the second New Jersey native, as The Star-Ledger wrote, to sing the national anthem. It’s a great honor,” Puth said. “I’m going to be inspired by what Whitney did, but I can’t ever touch what she did.”
“That’s the best one ever done — that and the Chris Stapleton one. That was raw. Made grown men cry,” Puth continued. “I just want to do my own thing with the hardest piece of music ever written,” he continued. “And I just wanna show people that I can do it. I feel like people don’t really think of me as, like, a stand-alone vocalist at times.”
The “Attention” singer also told Rolling Stone he “applied” and “auditioned” for the national anthem gig.
“I actually have always wanted to do this, and I recorded a little demo, just me singing with the Rhodes and sent it to Roc Nation. I’ve been told Jay-Z loved it, and it got to [NFL Commissioner Roger] Goodell and they all said that I could do it,” he explained.
Puth added, “I applied. I auditioned for it, but I made up my own audition because I’ve always wanted to do it — because I love it musically. It’s the best song. Musically, it’s so special.”
The New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks are facing off in Super Bowl 60.
Other performers include Green Day, who is headlining the pregame opening ceremony, Brandi Carlile, who is singing “America the Beautiful,” Coco Jones, who is performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and Bad Bunny, who is doing the halftime show.
English (US)