As the lead singer of the soulful, bluesy pop band Erin Rae & The Heartbeets, EMU social work grad Erin Murray ’08 has performed in plenty of large venues.
She and her band have performed for legions of fans before Seattle Reign (National Women’s Soccer League) games and at Seattle Kraken (National Hockey League) games. But singing the national anthem as part of a choir with Charlie Puth at Super Bowl LX—in front of 70,823 fans at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, and 124.9 million viewers watching on TV—was the largest audience she had ever played for.
Despite the massive crowd, she said she didn’t feel any nerves. “It’s harder for me to perform in a small space or more intimate setting,” she said.
‘All under wraps’
So how was the EMU alumna able to land such a high-profile gig?
Since March 2023, Murray has been a member of the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, directed by Terrance Kelly, which for the past four decades has made it its mission to inspire joy and unity through Black gospel and spiritual music traditions. Murray typically sings tenor in the choir but sang alto for their national anthem performance.
She said the production team working with Puth—the singer of such hits as See You Again and We Don’t Talk Anymore—reached out to the gospel choir and selected 10 performers. Ten members of the Sainted Trap Choir, an ensemble based in Charlotte, North Carolina, directed by Dennis Reed Jr., were also chosen.
“This was all under wraps; we couldn’t talk about it or anything,” Murray said. “But all of this happened within a week and a half, so we didn’t actually get our arrangements or parts until the Monday before the Super Bowl.”
On Friday, two days before Super Bowl Sunday, performers from the two choirs boarded a bus from Oakland, California, to Levi’s Stadium for sound check, where they were fitted for in‑ear monitors and the robes they would wear on the field.
“It was such a huge production,” said Murray. “In the same time span Brandi Carlile was singing America the Beautiful, we were singing our part with Charlie and the orchestra, and they were practicing videography for the flyover. All of that was being rehearsed at the same time.”
“It was pretty wild to have Brandi’s vocals live in my in-ear monitors because she’s one of my favorite contemporary singer-songwriters,” Murray added. “She’s a force to be reckoned with, so it was special to be in her orbit that way.”
The big day
On Sunday morning, the choirs arrived at the stadium, passed through security, and prepared for their performance at a nearby soccer field that had been turned into a green room. They shared the space with the orchestra and the performers dressed in grass suits who were part of the set for the Bad Bunny halftime show.
They walked through the same tunnel that Green Day, Carlile, and Bad Bunny used to enter the stadium. When the TV cameras cut to commercials, that’s when they took their places on the field.
Watch their performance below!
After they sang, they walked back out the tunnel, gave high-fives to some new “bush friends,” got on the bus, and were home by the fourth quarter, Murray said.
She said that working with Puth was “a total pleasure.”
“I don’t even think it’s really sunk in how much talent that man has,” she said. “Honestly, the same goes for Brandi. To be sandwiched between two incredible talents was a moment of a lifetime, for sure.”
Intercultural in Guatemala-Mexico
Born and raised in Seattle, Murray attended Seattle Mennonite Church and said she had “a lot of musical influence from growing up there,” but it wasn’t until well after her days at EMU that she began getting into music as a performer.
She attended the University of Washington for two years before spending a year in Washington D.C. through Mennonite Voluntary Service. She finished her last two years of her undergraduate degree at EMU, graduating in spring 2008.
She credited her intercultural experiences in Guatemala and Mexico as being particularly formative. “That never would’ve happened if EMU didn’t require it for its students,” she said. “I think, now more than ever, it’s important to stay connected to the larger world community and value people’s place in it, beyond what can feel convenient or easy.”
After graduating from EMU, she participated in Serving and Learning Together (SALT), Mennonite Central Committee’s yearlong, cross-cultural voluntary service program. She also taught English in Guatemala and ran an after-school program in El Salvador before returning to Seattle and plugging into the city’s music scene. She moved to Oakland in November 2022.
Looking back over the past week, Murray said one of the biggest highlights was working with Reed, director of the Sainted Trap Choir, who arranged the background vocals for their rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.
“He’s so talented, and it filled my heart to work closely with him and sing in harmony with such skilled singers,” she said.
Join the Discussion on “‘Moment of a lifetime’: Alumna sings national anthem with Charlie Puth and choir at Super Bowl”