Charlie Puth Wanted To Honor Whitney Houston With Super Bowl Anthem

After performing the national anthem at the 2026 Super Bowl, Charlie Puth shared that his particular arrangement was a tribute to Whitney Houston. The hitmaker put an choral spin on “The Star-Spangled Banner,” showcasing the song on a Rhodes keyboard with a choir and orchestra backing him.

“Thank you everyone for your kind words,” Puth wrote on X after the event. “It was an honor to sing The National Anthem. I wrote the arrangement in a very specific way to honor Whitney Houston – I hope that was heard.”

He added, “Thank you to the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, the Sainted Choir, the Color of Noize Orchestra, Steve Hackman, and Kenny G for joining me on stage. And thank you Adam Blackstone for writing such a beautiful choir part. I love music so much.”

Performing the national anthem was a long-held dream for Puth. “I’ve actually always wanted to do this,” Puth revealed while participating in the Rolling Stone Interview earlier this year. “I just want to show people that I can do it,” he added. “I feel like people don’t really think of me as a standalone vocalist at times… It’ll be pressure the week leading up to it and the hour leading up to it. But once I’m there, it’s going to feel so comfortable and it’s going to sound so good.”

Earlier this week, Puth joined Bad Bunny and the rest of the Super Bowl LX performers for the Apple Music halftime show press conference. “The arrangement is everything for me. I always reverse engineer how I hear my own music in my head, and then it’s just pulling it apart and making it a feasible product to to hold,” Puth told Apple music’s Zane Lowe.

When asked what he hoped fans would take away from his performance of the national anthem, the singer responded, “I want them to feel inspired. I want everybody to know that music is such an amazing thing and can change so many people’s lives.”