L.A.’s own Jhené Aiko delivered a performance of “America the Beautiful” during the 2022 Super Bowl pregame show on Sunday (Feb. 13).
Dressed in a plum-colored sequined gown and showing off a silver, dangly left-ear cuff, the six-time Grammy-nominated R&B singer was accompanied by a harpist as she brought a soft rendition of the patriotic song to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. The 33-year-old celebrated the announcement of her Super Bowl performance on Feb. 1, tweeting, “my Daddy’s from Cincinnati… Mom is from L.A 🥰 America the Beautiful 😍.”
In 2020, Aiko released her third and most recent studio album, Chilombo. Named after her surname, the album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Most recently, the singer’s on-again-off-again boyfriend, rapper Big Sean, confirmed that a follow-up to their 2016 EP Twenty88 is in the works. “I’m here working on [a] new album and new TWENTY88, me and Jhené,” the Detroit native told Queen Naija while on Instagram Live. “S–t, we’ve been working on it for a little bit … It’s coming along good, though.” The musical couple also recently made headlines after being mistaken for Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze, Jr. at the L.A. Rams and San Francisco 49ers game on Sunday, Jan. 30.
Aiko’s performance was followed by Mickey Guyton‘s powerful delivery of the national anthem, where the performer was almost moved to tears upon concluding the song. Another milestone for the country singer, Guyton recently made history for becoming the first Black artist to receive a Grammy nomination for best country album of the year for her 2021’s Remember Her Name.
Watch Aiko’s performance of “America, The Beautiful” below:
.@JheneAiko performs America the Beautiful! #SBLVI pic.twitter.com/QtTOcG4nSA
— NFL (@NFL) February 13, 2022