If there's anything more difficult than following Aretha
Franklin, it's following Aretha Franklin's hat. But four years after the soul
singer bedazzled her way onto the inauguration stage, Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson,
and James Taylor did their best to pay patriotic tribute to President Barack
Obama as he was sworn into office.
Taylor, armed with only a guitar, performed a stripped-down,
much-shortened version of "America the Beautiful," while Clarkson and
Beyoncé — in her first post-Blue Ivy on-camera performance — had the difficult
task of following Obama's inauguration speech with "My Country 'Tis of
Thee" (seemingly read off a teleprompter) and "The Star-Spangled
Banner," respectively. (Pulling out her earpiece, Beyoncé appeared to
suffer sound problems during her performance... not that you'd notice listening
to her
