New Zealand born Marla Kavanaugh’s performance at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. Audio / Newstalk ZB
Three key facts:
LA-based Marla Kavanaugh is a renowned opera and theatre singer who grew up in New Zealand
She performed the New Zealand national anthem at the All Blacks v Fiji match in the US, and has performed God Defend New Zealand on several occasions, including for Sir Peter Jackson after receiving an Academy Award for Lord of the Rings
Megan Alatini has performed the national anthem in the past, including at the Bledisloe Cup 2009
OPINION
A Kiwi pop star has come to the defence of a beleaguered soprano whose performance of the national anthem has been panned by social media trolls.
TrueBliss singer Megan Alatini has a message for the armchair critics - cruel comments about an artist’s performance can be “hurtful and damaging”.
“I think is so disgusting that people would choose to take time out of their day to pull somebody down so badly.
“I just wonder sometimes why is it that we’re so quick to mock and belittle and pull down.”
Kiwi soprano Marla Kavanaugh’s performance of God Defend New Zealand, the New Zealand national anthem, in San Diego over the weekend was met with stinging feedback, as rugby fans took to social media.
Some labelled the rendition “atrocious”, with others describing it as the worst they had ever heard.
However, other experts warned that anthems were challenging, with former anthem singer Tim Beveridge stressing how difficult they were to perform “unaccompanied and live in front of a huge crowd and televised audience”.
Moved by the criticisms, Alatini took to Facebook to defend Kavanaug, saying “social media critics are so rife and cruel”.
Performing the anthem - something “filled with history and representation” - was a nerve-racking gig, she wrote.
Speaking to the Herald, she explained why she felt compelled to share her thoughts publicly.
“I can’t speak for her experience, I don’t know her as a singer,” Alatini said.
But she wanted to share some of her own experience with performing, and how it felt to deal with online criticism.
Megan Alatini sings the South African anthem prior to the Tri Nations Test between the All Blacks and Springboks at Waikato Stadium. Photo / Getty Images
Being chosen to perform an anthem was an auspicious occasion and a “once in a lifetime opportunity.
“It’s the type of event that can really catapult you into stardom that you may not have felt or experienced before, but it’s definitely also the type of occasion that can make or break someone’s career.”
It exposed a singer to a large audience, many of whom were there to see sport rather than music.
No matter how talented you were or how much you had practised, when performing an anthem in a sports stadium there were so many variables that could affect a performance, Alatini said.
Nerves and anxiety could alter the sound and vibrato (an expressive variation of pitch) of one’s voice.
“In these massive outdoor arenas, it’s completely different,” Alatini said. “The sound can be quite lost and it can be absorbed quite differently from such a huge crowd and from such open air.”
The singer relied on a production company’s set-up and and tech to be right.
“Also with monitors, the sound can actually be slightly delayed and you don’t even hear yourself half the time,” she said. “I think some of the responsibility also needs to be put on the broadcasting or the production company and the stadium tech.”
Ahead of the San Diego match, Kavanaugh told media she was honoured to be invited to sing the anthem. However, after the social media comments, she told the Otago Daily Times that she did not want to discuss the performance yet.
Alatini remembered one of her own performances that didn’t go as well as she’d hoped.
“It was in Tokyo Stadium in Japan and it was off the back of me having a bit of a cold and, and I know I didn’t sound the greatest,” Alatini said.
“I was so scared for what people were going to have to say.”
She wanted people to understand what went into a performance at a major sports match before they “start calling people out online” without knowing the background.
“I think that is so detrimental to someone’s confidence and wellbeing.”
Marla Kavanaugh's rendition of God Defend New Zealand has drawn the ire of many rugby fans.
Entertainment and media had fundamentally changed, along with our behaviour, she said.
People are “so big on having their opinions out there in a public space” but don’t always realise how hurtful and damaging it can be.
“We seem to be such a generation and culture of mocking and celebrating failures, especially when there are embarrassing moments.
“In this day and age ... once something is recorded, it is out there for the public forever.”
She’s had to deal with online criticism of her own.
“I’ve had an experience online where I was online bullied and people don’t realise that you’re a person, you’re reading this, you’re taking it on. So is your family, and it can really scar and damage you for life.”
Alatini wanted to show solidarity for Kavanaugh, and encouraged others to do the same.
“I’ve had lots of messages from New Zealand and internationally from people saying, ‘Thank you for pledging some sort of support and encouraging us to maybe look at the ways that we post online’.
“Because I have no doubt that this woman has seen and heard some of the feedback that’s out there.”
For a singer, such criticism could make you “feel sick to the core” and was difficult to ignore.
“You say you’re not going to read things and then you do. And unfortunately, human nature, we tend to focus on the more negative comments even if there are some positive ones.”
Criticism of Kavanaugh’s San Diego performance had been particularly harsh, Alatini said.
She and the rest of TrueBliss were grateful they hadn’t endured the same level of attention or commentary when they were first in the spotlight.
“Even some of the sporting peeps that I know out there say, ‘Thank God that there wasn’t social media the way there is now’ because we struggled at times with people’s opinions that we would read a week later, or a month later; these days it’s instantaneous.”
Truebliss watch Australian pop group Bardot sing the Australian national anthem before a Bledisloe Cup test match. Photo / Getty Images
For anyone dealing with this kind of public criticism, the best thing was to step away, she said.
“Honestly, try not to read the stuff that’s out there and surround yourself with the people who are going to uplift you.
“Watch some of the performances where you were at your best to remind you that you can be amazing. This is the work and the creative space that you love.”
To anyone who aired their thoughts harshly on social media, Alatini suggested they put themselves in Kavanaugh’s shoes.
“Just for a moment, imagine what it must feel like,” she said. “Here was somebody who was willing to put them out themselves out in a public arena. She probably thought that this was going to be the most incredible experience.
“It could be you, it could be your child or a family member; what is the experience you would want them to have? Think about that.”
