WATCH: T-Pain’s Surprising Rendition of the National Anthem

The singer famed for using auto-tune knocked it out of the park.

America’s national anthem is a challenging song for even the most well-trained singers. After all, the melody was taken from a drinking song, likely sung by pubs full of people who’d had a few and didn’t care if they even had half the notes right.

So when someone absolutely nails the “Star-Spangled Banner,” it’s worth acknowledging. When T-Pain, a singer whose rep was first built on digitally enhancing his vocals with auto-tune kills the anthem in a huge stadium with nothing but a normal microphone, maybe it’s time to reconsider your perception of him. Because in his performance of the anthem at Dodgers stadium on Monday, T-Pain seemed determined to make listeners forget the guy who became famous for robot-voiced tracks that charted mainly between 2005 and 2010.

As the Los Angeles Times noted, T-Pain’s interpretation wasn’t perfect. But it was powerfully delivered and he took musical liberties that enhanced the tune more than they sounded like showing off. 

Go ahead and keep shaking off the ghost of auto-tune, T-Pain. We’re listening.

Photos by Screen capture from video