Charlie Puth was declared a greater artist.
The 34-year-old four-time Grammy nominee sang the national anthem at Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday.
Puth wore a brown leather jacket, tie, and blue jeans for the performance.
The “See You Again” singer, who performed while playing the piano, was joined by deaf artist Fred Beam to perform the national anthem in American Sign Language (ASL).
Puth follows in the footsteps of Jon Batiste, who sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 2025 Super Bowl in Louisiana.
Previous Super Bowl national anthem performers include Reba McEntire (2024), Chris Stapleton (2023), Mickey Guyton (2022), and Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan (2021).
During Apple Music’s Super Bowl Halftime Show press conference on Friday, Puth explained how he prepared for his performance.
“The best way to approach it specifically for me is that the deal is everything to me,” he told host Zane Lowe. “I’m always kind of reverse-engineering what my music sounds like in my head, breaking it down into pieces and making it into a product that I can keep. I’ve been rehearsing this in my head for months.”
Puth said she often sang in the shower or in her car before the performance, and admitted she was “nervous” beforehand.
“This is a very difficult song to sing musically. It’s important not to sing too much,” he explained.
The “How Long” singer also told Lowe that he hopes his national anthem performance will “inspire” people.
“I want people to know that music is such an amazing thing and that it can change so many lives,” Puth said. “Everyone loves music. Music brightens every aspect of your day. I’m honored to sit here and talk about how I sing.”
Puth was announced as a Super Bowl performer in December, which sparked backlash from some critics.
“We’ve been down since Whitney Houston sang at the Super Bowl. Charlie Puth? I wonder if he won’t give us the vocals,” political commentator Link Lauren wrote in X. (Houston performed what is considered the best Super Bowl national anthem performance in 1991)
Puth responded to Lauren’s tweet, writing, “I will never claim to be as good a singer as Whitney Houston. But I guarantee you that I have created a truly special arrangement in D major. It will be one of my best vocal performances.”
“Light Switch” revisited Houston’s iconic Super Bowl performance in an interview with Rolling Stone last month.
“She’s from Newark. As the Star-Ledger wrote, I’m the second New Jersey native to sing the national anthem. It’s a great honor,” Puth said. “I’m going to be inspired by what Whitney did, but I’ll never be able to touch what she did.”
“That’s the best thing ever. That and Chris Stapleton’s. That was raw. It made a grown man cry,” Puth continued. “I just want to do my thing with the hardest song ever written,” he continued. “And I just want to show people that I can do it. I feel like people don’t really think of me as a standalone vocalist sometimes.”
The “Attention” singer told Rolling Stone that she “applied” and even “auditioned” to sing the national anthem live.
“I’ve actually always wanted to do this, so I recorded a little demo of just me singing with Rose and sent it to Roc Nation. I heard Jay-Z liked it, and it got to[NFL Commissioner Roger]Goodell and he said we could do it,” he explained.
Puth added, “I applied. I auditioned, but I created my own audition because I’ve always wanted to do it. Musically, I love it. It’s the best song. Musically, it’s very special.”
The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will face off in Super Bowl 60.
Other performers include Green Day, who headlined the pregame opening ceremony, Brandi Carlile, who sang “America the Beautiful,” Coco Jones, who sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and Bad Bunny, who performed the halftime show.
