Today at New Orleans' Morial Convention Center just blocks from the Superdome, diva Beyonce held court in front of throngs of media, detailing her Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII halftime show.

She stunned the crowd by singing the national anthem live in front of us in the press pool, asking us to please stand before belting out the patriotic standard. She nailed it, plain and simple.

Beyonce later explained that she did in fact use a backing track at President Obama's second inauguration, because the time crunch, hustle, and weather didn't make it possible to go live. Super Bowl prep also played a role, she added.

She did say that she was singing along at the inauguration to her backing tape, though, and promised that she would be singing live on Sunday night.

Late last year Beyonce signed on with the soda giant Pepsi for what a "wide-ranging global collaboration." This halftime show is one of their first major events together.

Massive amounts of entertainment media were at the press conference, with even reigning Miss America Mallory Hagan making the rounds.

Beyonce's husband Jay-Z is hosting a pre-game bash on Saturday night at Republic New Orleans in the warehouse district. The event is obviously set to be star-studded, with most big-name celebs just now hitting NOLA.