Show of Hands

Now ask: "are there circumstances under which, for the benefit of the audience or the health of the artist, such acts of cheating, should be forgiven... or -god forbid overlooked entirely?"

If she screwed it up you all would be chastising her, she pre records to ensure that our nations anthem is sung with dignity, and raw talent, and frankly perfection, and you chastise her.... Seems to me she loses either way. The fact is it was her voice, she sang the song beautifully.

Malarkey, they all do from time to time depending on circumstances

And Biden couldn't tell the difference. This is the bung monkey you want in charge of the Second Amendment???

Because Beyonce used a copy of her voice at the Inauguration, I hope she got only a copy of the paycheck.

Who the hell's Frank Ocean?

Musicians like Kelly Clarkson?????

Everyone comes out to see your butt sing, so sing! No one wants to hear pre recorded stuff. It ruins the point.

People pay to see a live performance.
We can all purchase a CD.

Don't know why everyone cares. Beyonce is amazing and it was her voice. Musicians and singers know those cold conditions would've made such an important performance less solid.

Beyonce lmfao

Was she competing with Lance Armstrong?

Ever spend $300 on a ticket to see a live performance?

it's cheating, but sometimes it's necessary for some artists. if you get strep throat, you can't get up on a stage and sing, it's just not happening. I think that it's ok to lip-synch depending on the circumstances. but the correct thing to do is cancel a performance if you're sick.

I honestly doubt you are really Frank Ocean

EXACTLY,

Totally agree!

And for as big a deal as the inauguration, why not nail it on a recording instead of risking a blooper? Our national anthem is one tough sucker to perform!

You're fine by me, Beyonce!

Auto tune.

Beyonce's excuse was she didn't have time to practice with the band...hahaha it's the national anthem. You were ether of saying it was cold at 40 degrees hahaha. She should be ashamed.
Now she can say she lip synced for the president...

Yeah, but they were lip-syncing to someone else's voice and passing it off as their own. I think there's a very big difference between that and an artist recording their song, then lip-syncing to that recording.

With the exception of auto tune AND she could sing it as many times as she wanted and if she messed up, she could do it again. That, my friend, is cheating and totally misses the point of "live"

I wouldn't say 'cheating', but it's disrespectful. Regarding Beyoncé at the Inauguration, there's no doubt she can sing and has an amazing voice. But I think of all the people who dream of being a singer, who would love to have that honor & wouldn't even think of lip-synching, and…it's just sad.

I don't really care.

It's not like she "needs" to lip-synch!! It was cold as polar bears out there. Trust me I was there. Sometimes it's harder to do what you normally do in the cold!

If the live recording is not edited just a precation

Michael Jackson lip synced all the time. Madonna as well. Pretty much any performer that does lots of dancing.

Honestly, does anybody real care that much?

Only if people paid to see you sing live! What ever happened to Milly Vinilly? Oh... That's right, they got caught lip syncing!

Look at the greatest artists and bands of all time. Did they lip sinc? (In case you were wondering, the answer is no)

Yes! Didn't anyone watch the Lizzie McGuire movie?!

If I pay to see a Live Performance, Lip Synching is out of the question!
But for The Inauguration, Who cares!!
The song she sung was fantastic!!

I don't think that lip-syncing is really that big if a deal

While I agree most of pop is getting progressively worse, let's remember that there are still very many talented natural artists today. Frank Ocean, Bon Iver, Iron & Wine, Needtobreathe, Mumford & Sons, and Adele just to name a very select few.

Mick jagger is almost 70 and doesn't stop dancing and prancing around the stage for almost 2 hours and does not lip sync neith should the kids today

I avoid artists who need lip synching.

It's only cheating if it is advertised or sold as a live performance. If the people know its a lip sync, and it is defined as such, then it would not be cheating.... But then who would go pay to watch Beyonce lip sync....

I'm saying no because even though it is cheating, there would be nothing worse than a voice crack or messed up song at a concert. It's more of a security blanket than anything.

possible to do all that dancing, jumping and running around while singing and if you tried you'd be out of breath and sing like crap.
My nieces have been to those type of shows and say they pay for the whole show not just the music, so they don't care if it's pre-recorded.

But beyonce wasn't dancing she was standing still

For the type of music I listen to its cheating. I can save myself $200 and buy a cd if I want to hear a recording.
For some kinds of music, though, I can see why people do it. The ones that do elaborate dances through the whole concert. For a lot of those it simply wouldn't be…

My daughter has sung at ball games with her own recorded voiced piped into her ear. The reason is not cheating. It is because of the crowd noise level and not being able to hear your music.

I said yes... It's cheating BUT if I was getting up in front of pretty much all of dc and most of the us to sing our anthem I would deeeefffiinitely lip sing! Bc I would be having a major panic attack. And it shows that I'm not perfect and flawless.

I think it provides for a better show but it's not your true voice, therefor it's cheating

Agree 100%

It made sense to me that they *couldn't* play the instruments live outdoors when it was so cold on 2009 - it probably would have sounded stupid & maybe harmed the instruments. Maybe would have been better to have some alternate kind of entertainment lined up in case if weather issues.

The Black Eyed Peas should've thought of that. Lol but yeah auto tune is a thing.

Susanr. Misrepresentation, fraud or whatever you'd like to call it is just that. This isn't as complicated as some of the other polls.

It's only cheating if you get caught.

I can only speak for myself, but during my time in the Southern California's Children's Choir, I learned that it was not fun to sing in the outdoor winter wonderland concert, we sounded like a pack of dogs when it is cold. I also play the violin I have tried playing outside, and it is a harsh sound

If I paid money and am the singers performance is why I'm there, then I'm getting cheated.

If its the national anthem for a football game or other event (even the inauguration) where the conditions are poor for best performance, why should I care unless I'm looking for something to complain about?