--- title: Gifted Seven-Year-Old Shows How the National Anthem Is Done description: The performance was so good, she got soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović to cheer for her. canonical: https://time.com/5404520/malea-emma-tjandrawidjaja-national-anthem/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-24T15:22:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:02.249Z og:title: Gifted Seven-Year-Old Shows How the National Anthem Is Done og:description: The performance was so good, she got the star of the game to cheer for her og:url: https://time.com/5404520/malea-emma-tjandrawidjaja-national-anthem/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffb5de50a556cd74/69893afc22fb85427de26bd5/lagalaxynationalanthem.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Real Salt Lake v Los Angeles Galaxy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gifted Seven-Year-Old Shows How the National Anthem Is Done twitter:description: The performance was so good, she got the star of the game to cheer for her twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffb5de50a556cd74/69893afc22fb85427de26bd5/lagalaxynationalanthem.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Gifted Seven-Year-Old Goes Viral for Demonstrating How the National Anthem Is Done > Sponsored content. 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(Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) Fireworks are set off during the National Anthem before the LA Galaxy game against Real Salt Lake at StubHub Center on June 9, 2018 in Carson, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)Meg Oliphant—Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Sep 24, 2018 3:22 PM UTC The [national anthem](http://time.com/5391018/nfl-national-anthem-2018-season/) of the United States is [not an easy song](http://time.com/2872180/worst-national-anthem-star-spangled-banner/) to perform—unless you’re a seven-year old with an incredible talent. Before the L.A. Galaxy faced off against the Seattle Sounders, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, a 7-year-old singer, stepped onto the grass at the StubHub Center in Los Angeles. She proceeded to belt out “[The Star-Spangled Banner](http://time.com/4958174/national-anthem-lyrics/)” in front of a packed crowd of Major League Soccer fans, like it was the easiest thing in the world. The performance was so remarkable that not only did the L.A. Galaxy [describe](https://twitter.com/LAGalaxy/status/1044024920093515776) it as “one of the best national anthem performances in StubHub Center\[‘s\] history,” but she managed to get [soccer](http://time.com/5335799/soccer-word-origin-england/) superstar Zlatan Ibrahimović to cheer for _her_ _._ According[ to the MLS website](https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/09/23/7-year-old-belts-out-star-spangled-banner-la-galaxy-match), the small but mighty singer had to fight for her chance to sing the anthem, entering the soccer team’s #GalaxySocial Day Instagram Anthem contest where she resoundingly beat “many other applicants for the right to sing the anthem.” Her victory must have inspired the team, the Galaxy beat the Sounders 3 to 0 in the match. > [](https://twitter.com/MaleaEmma/status/1043976987512131584) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5404520/malea-emma-tjandrawidjaja-national-anthem/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5404520/malea-emma-tjandrawidjaja-national-anthem/"},"headline":"Gifted Seven-Year-Old Goes Viral for Demonstrating How the National Anthem Is Done","datePublished":"2018-09-24T15:22:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:02.249Z","description":"The performance was so good, she got soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović to cheer for her","url":"https://time.com/5404520/malea-emma-tjandrawidjaja-national-anthem/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Soccer","National Anthem","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffb5de50a556cd74/69893afc22fb85427de26bd5/lagalaxynationalanthem.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffb5de50a556cd74/69893afc22fb85427de26bd5/lagalaxynationalanthem.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Real Salt Lake v Los Angeles Galaxy","caption":"Los Angeles Galaxy national anthem","creditText":"Meg Oliphant—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5404520/malea-emma-tjandrawidjaja-national-anthem/","name":"Gifted Seven-Year-Old Goes Viral for Demonstrating How the National Anthem Is Done"}}]}] ```