If you’re at all plugged into the internet over the past 24 hours you probably saw Ingrid Andress get absolutely roasted for her performance of the National Anthem at last night’s MLB Home Run Derby. The internet can be a pretty cruel place and oftentimes more critical than is actually deserving, but this time they were spot on– Andress’ performance quite literally might be the worst National Anthem I have ever heard in my entire life, filled with brutal note misses, odd timing choices, and her voice cracking multiple times during the performance. You hate to see it happen on a stage as large as that one, and especially to an artist who has won a few Grammy’s for doing what she is paid to do professionally– sing. The brutal reality is that this is going to materially impact her career. She is a pop-country singer and the Venn Diagram between the typical baseball fan and typical country fan has a ton of overlap. It’s gonna be hard for anyone who has seen that performance to forget about it when they are debating whether it is worth it to plunk down $60 on a ticket to see her live show.
All this inspired me to listen to her album Good Person (a solid run of the mill pop-country effort) and, as you can imagine, she sounded pretty good on it. As I was listening I thought about how fickle life can be– she has one off night (a massive one to be clear) and everything she’s ever done before doesn’t matter anymore. This is what a large set of the population, many people whom never had heard of Ingrid Andress before, will ultimately remember her by.
And the funny thing is that goes for every one of us and our lives as well. Outside of your closest friends and family, people will remember a handful of big moments (good and bad) where you showed up strong or you made a massive mistake. And in that scenario you have two choices– one is to ignore it and pretend like it never happened, and the other is to fully lean into it and make it a part of your story. It’s what happens next that ultimately shapes you as a person, and that has nothing to do with how others view you (that ship has already sailed). It has everything to do with how you feel about yourself.
And that’s what ultimately matters the most.
Standout Songs: “How Honest Do You Want Me To Be?”, “Feel Like This”, “Wishful Drinking”
UPDATE 7/16/24, 12:04pm: Ingrid Andress announced that she was drunk during the performance and will be entering rehab to address her issues.
