Seven months earlier in Texas, the country singer-songwriterspectacularly botchedThe Star-Spangled Banner before the MLBs televised Home Run Derby.
She knows you saw it.
Whoever that was is not an accurate representation of who I am at all.
Ingrid Andress talks about flubbing the national anthem last summer and going to rehab in her first interview since the performance.Daniel Chaney*
That mid-July day in Dallas is somewhat of a blur for Andress.
She arrived at the Texas Rangers ballpark, did a soundcheck, and started drinking.
Up until then, I had never let it get in the way of my performance, she says.
I liked the numbness… Thats part of how it got out of control.
I just remember being like, I dont care, she says.
I felt so much like an object that it just didnt matter.
I had completely missed the plot.
Within her first few notes, it was clear that Andress head was elsewhere.
By the end of the performance, Andress could be seen tilting her head down, wincing.
I remember talking to one of my best friends on the phone after I got off the field.
She was like, Howd it go?
And I was like, I think it went OK, Andress says.
But online, posts about her performance were inescapable.
I didnt run that statement by anybody, she says.
I needed to let people know that its not just this one incident that I messed up.
I need to get better.
Im at such a low place, Im not gonna lie about it.
In her post, she added a dry-humor joke about how rehab might be super fun.
Some thought it was flippant, and it added fuel to the online fire.
I realize now how insensitive that came off.
Yes, it was bad, but the political climate in America was also tense.
I felt like Americas punching bag.
I became a way to unite America.
It was like, At least we can all agree that this girl botched the anthem, Andress says.
Ill be the punching bag for sure, but I didnt commit a crime.
It felt very extreme for what the situation was.
(When things are going well for you, nobody checks in on you, she says.)
It was a lot of big decisions made that in a short period altered my life drastically.
I thought that changing that would fix everything, but it was so much to process, Andress says.
There was a grieving period I never gave myself.
Weve learned to have each others backs.
She says she also heard from Carlos Santana, who was so supportive and suggested they work together.
Its kind of a Thank God moment, because we all do fuck up.
But we all move on.
And thats part of this process.
Andress emerged from rehab renewed, but admits she was far from ready to reenter the public eye.
I hadnt had time to just live, she says.
I wanted to view myself as a human and not as an artist.
I wanted to figure out what I liked about myself separate from my songwriting.
Now, Andress is energized, inspired, and unafraid of what reaction her music may receive.
Ive already been there, she says.
I learned to not ever let your past dictate what you’re free to do in the future.
Sometimes it takes a little public humiliation to turn your life around.
