Lady Gaga Sings The National Anthem At Joe Biden's Presidential Inauguration

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I've just watched Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga, sing the American national anthem. It was a sight to see her enter the stage in front of the Capitol in an enormous red and black robe (a Schiaparelli Confection)! I'm sure that if you unfolded and measured the cloth used for the skirt, you'd find that you could make a tent for at least three people from it. When the singing had ended, I noticed by chance that there were loads of comments on it on the net only moments later. I'm not into music. I can't make an intelligent remark on whether a performance is top notch or if it has flaws. The American anthem means nothing to me due to the fact that I'm not an American citizen. When I hear it - or any other national anthem - , I'm not touched emotionally. I think she sang well, certainly with fervour and true feelings. I couldn't believe what I read and heard in the comments. Instead of being content with the whole event, people were nitpicking Lady Gaga's performance from beginning to end. I remember one remark. A commentator had noticed that when she pronounced a diphthong* she had put a bit more stress on the first vowel sound instead of on the second (or the other way round). So? What if she did? Goodness! In my opinion such criticism has more to do with the critic than with the criticised person. He or she wants to show off their knowledge of whatever they are criticising. In the local dialect of the German region where I live, such people are called "shi*ters of dots on the i". I'll always remember an excursion I took part in when I was holidaying with my husband in the south of Turkey. The group went by coach to a lake and made a round trip there on a small ship during which the tourists could jump into the water and swim for a while. *All the time* Lady Gaga was blaring through the tinny loudspeakers! But I still like her singing. :-) --------- * (WIKIPEDIA) diphthong, "also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech apparatus) moves during the pronunciation of the vowel. In most varieties of English, the phrase 'no highway cowboys' ... has five distinct diphthongs, one in every syllable." --------- Have a listen!