T-Pain soars through ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ at Dodger Stadium

Like a waylaid runner who suddenly drops his crutches and sprints to victory, on Monday night, pop singer T-Pain sang “The Star Spangled Banner” without help from AutoTune, shocking a skeptical Dodger Stadium with a rendition that echoed through the air with soaring dexterity.

The scene? Dusk in Chavez Ravine, where the pop star was booked to open the Dodgers’ game against the San Francisco Giants. As T-Pain’s arrival was announced, the crowd seemed doubtful at best.

This is a man, after all, who rose to fame as one of the first AutoTune pop stars, dropping hip-hop-based tracks or singing hooks on jams including “Low” (with Flo Rida), “Good Life” (with Kanye West) and the comedy jam “I’m on a Boat” (with the Lonely Island). That android-suggestive style was ubiquitous — until it got tired. Which is to say, baseball fans had reason to be wary. Would his microphone be hooked into a computer?

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Nope. Wearing a Dodgers jersey and standing proudly, T-Pain took the field with confidence. Few apparently understood that the man can sing hard, powerful and on key, and that minus the computerized AutoTune crutch, that voice can fly. (NPR listeners knew otherwise; the equally impressive T-Pain “Tiny Desk Concert” went viral last year.)

You can the view the performance below.

Follow Randall Roberts on Twitter: @liledit