On June 26, 2021, Ella Jayne had the amazing opportunity to sing the national anthem at the Shamrock FC MMA fight at the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, Missouri.
Preparing To Sing For The Fight
Before the show, how did Ella Jayne prepare to sing in front of the crowd?
“It’s gonna sound bad, but I thought ‘Well, it’s going to be terrible. I’m nervous.’” Pre-show nerves are not unfamiliar to Ella Jayne. “But it wasn’t that bad in the end. I was shaky in the beginning but then was ok. We got something to eat before it started. Bugatti’s is the only place that I’ll say the steaks are better than my dad’s!”
Since she was little, her dad has always been very patriotic. He taught Ella Jayne how to sing “God bless America” by the time she was one and she knew all of the presidents by the time she was three. So it’s safe to say she’d been ready to sing the anthem her entire life.
Before the fight, Ella Jayne goes over the song in her head but reveals the trick is not to think too hard about it. “If you think about it too much it can mess you up. I’m singing and if I think about the lyrics, I don’t know what they are. When you don’t think about the lyrics it’s ok. Kinda like church songs. Even if I know that I know that, you can crack under pressure. No, I have to get over [the nerves] with time.”
Nerves Don’t’ Get Ella Jayne Down
Ella Jayne isn’t afraid to admit that she still gets nervous before she sings but it gets better as the event goes on. “I told myself I had to do it. Been waiting for it. Been preparing. Everyone starts out like that. Honestly, I was hoping that I didn’t fail. I thought, it’s going to be an actual nightmare if I forget the words. But I didn’t. I like to go with the positive side on things that could and could not happen.”
When talking about her experience at the MMA fight, Ella Jayne notes a funny thing that happened. “Totally thought the crowd was booing at the end of the anthem.” What does she mean?
In St. Louis, it is tradition at the end of the anthem to replace “brave” with “Blues.” So Ella Jayne, who hadn’t been told of this, was a bit confused to say the least. “My parents felt bad because they forgot to tell me it was a thing!”
Met the announcer for @Shamrock_FC,
Invited To Sing Again At The Fight!
As a boxer herself, this was an opportunity that she didn’t want to miss! “I decided that I was going to do it and get somewhere exposure-wise and make dad proud of me. When I did it, at first, I was nervous and shaky and was ok. After I was relieved and kind of sad…wanted to do it again.”
After singing at the fight, Ella Jayne and her family did not stay as the rules at the casino (no one under 21) from staying. So she and her family left in an old limo a family member purchased years ago.
“Being in a limo is cool. I like riding backward. It brings back memories every year of going to see the lights for Christmas at the park with school friends in the limo and then going to iHop in onesies.”
If there’s anything that this experience her is to not get overly confident or think you won’t get nervous. When asked, Ella Jayne stated that she would totally sing for a fight again. In fact, she was invited back to sing in the fall!
Miss her performance at the fight? You can check out on Ella Jayne’s YouTube channel!
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