Canadian vocalist JP Saxe approached the microphone at Dodger Stadium on Monday night with self-assurance, style, and 382,000 Instagram followers he hoped to impress while performing before his beloved Toronto Blue Jays.
Within moments of his first notes, he found himself at the center of a nationwide firestorm and became the target of countless MLB World Series debates across social media.
The World Series Game 3 performer certainly didn’t receive the same recognition and praise as Chicago icon Jim Cornelison’s powerful renditions of the anthem at Blackhawks games and major events.
Rather than acclaim, Saxe faced criticism for all the wrong reasons. As opposed to delivering the conventional lyric “Our home and native land,” Saxe substituted it with “Our home on native land”, reports The Mirror.
Once the broadcast hit social media platforms, the singer’s attempt at a “provocative” lyrical modification had already been thoroughly mocked.
This followed fan bewilderment when Game 2 was suddenly disrupted by a musical act.
“That doesn’t represent Canada,” one fan posted. Another added, “If you’re going to change the anthem, at least sing it well.”
A third wrote, “Try staying in key. That was horrible!” while another summarized the consensus more bluntly: “You knew he was f—ed on that first note.”
The anthem moment sparked an unusual mini-feud on social media, with users playfully suggesting that each game’s vocalist represented a different “team.”
One post declared, “Game 1 was a tie. Game 2, Alessia Cara and Canada won. Game 3, Brad Paisley for the USA took it.”
For Saxe, the performance was meant to be a moment of national pride as a Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based performer.
He initially gained recognition with 2019’s “If the World Was Ending,” a collaboration with Julia Michaels that secured him a Grammy nomination.
The track climbed to No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained on the charts for an impressive 289 weeks.
It stands as his only mainstream success to this day.
Hours prior to the anthem, Saxe shared Instagram stories from the Blue Jays logo painted in the grass, quipping, “Oh Canada?” and swinging his microphone like a bat with the caption, “Can the singer pinch hit?” That comment didn’t age gracefully.
The vocal mishap arrives during a challenging year for the artist, whose 2025 releases Articulate Excuses and Make Yourself At Home have generated lukewarm interest but lackluster sales.
His scheduled North American tour was suddenly scrapped after he couldn’t move 20,000 tickets within 48 hours, despite booking prestigious venues from Toronto’s Massey Hall to Brooklyn Steel in New York City.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
