The popularity of the New Zealand national anthem is hanging by a thread.
After the weekend's disastrous rendition of the national anthem at a rugby league test in the US, there's been a surge of momentum in people calling for the anthem to be changed.
You may remember a time when the telly started with the national anthem: the passion, the patriotism, and the picturesque scenes of oil rigs. What a time to be alive.
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But cut to this week, Kiwis heard a version of our national tune some have described as the worst in history. US singer Crystal Collins butchered the national anthem at the Kiwis vs England rugby league test in Denver.
The local jazz singer nearly created an international incident with her pre-game rendition of the Māori and English versions of the anthem. She has since apologised and blamed the performance on a mix-up with her monitor and the unexpected start to the anthem.
But even when the national anthem is sung by angels - such as the spine-tingling performance uploaded to Facebook on Tuesday by Kiwi female vocal group Le ART from Porirua College - some say the song just doesn't quite pack a punch.
"It's so gormless; it's not even powerful enough to be depressing," Kiwi musician Shayne Carter, best known for leading Straitjacket Fits from 1986-1994, told The Project on Wednesday.
"It makes everyone sound like a drongo, really. At least with the Māori thing at the front, it gives it a sense of poetry or depth that it doesn't actually have."
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger thinks New Zealand's national anthem is just right.
"I like the New Zealand anthem - I think it's respectful, it's calm and measured, unlike some of the rhetoric in others which are bombastic and xenophobic," he told The Project.
"I think the New Zealand anthem fits very well into whom we are as New Zealanders and I particularly like it when it's sung in Māori."
But Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters has said he's never heard anyone singing the New Zealand national anthem at 12am at the pub, suggesting it must not be that great. If it were up to him, he'd have a referendum on whether it should be changed.
The Project host Jesse Mulligan said no matter what song was chosen to be the national anthem, no one would go for it because "we're not a national anthem country".
"We hate national anthems because they combine our least two favourite things: singing and enthusiasm," Mulligan joked.
But co-host Kanoa Lloyd said while she likes to poke fun at the national anthem, she actually "quite loves it".
Newshub.
