Sushmitha says it was an “honor” to sing the song in Hindi

Feb 4, 2014 14:48 GMT  ·  By

Coca Cola caused a huge online storm with its Super Bowl XLVIII ad “It’s Beautiful,” which featured the song “America the Beautiful” sung in different languages. A follow-up video has been released, showing a young Indian American covering it in Hindi.

Meet Sushmitha: she is just one of the people who were asked by the company to come into the recording studio for a version of “America the Beautiful” in their native tongue. She says being asked to cover it was an “honor” not only “as an Indian [but] as a representative of all the Indians in America.”

“It’s so beautiful that we are all the same. We just have different backgrounds and that’s OK. We’re all Americans and we can come together to make change,” she says.

However, many Americans at home disagree with that, which is also the reason why the ad proved so controversial. As they see it, “America the Beautiful” is an all-exclusive American song and, as such, it should only be sung in English.

Having it performed in any other language is nothing short of blasphemous and not few were those who vouched to never touch a Coke in their entire life because of that.

On the other hand, the ad also received praise, for showing that what makes America great and “Beautiful” was its diversity.