Latina Artist Nezza Sings Official U.S. Spanish-Language Anthem at Dodgers Game After Being Told ‘No’

The tension around Los Angeles has been at an all-time high recently.  In the days before Saturday night’s Dodgers-Giants game, crowds gathered near the federal complex with chants, flags, and quiet defiance. But inside Dodger Stadium, something else was about to unfold.

Vanessa Hernández, known to her fans as Nezza, stepped forward wearing the jersey of the Dominican Republic. She did not raise a flag or lift a sign, yet her decision pierced through the tension in a city on edge. As the first notes of the national anthem played, the stadium was met with a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” few had heard, not because it was new, but because its language was different. Nezza sang it in Spanish, a choice that defied protocol, honored her family, and resurrected a translation nearly erased from public memory.

She had been told to sing in English. She did not.

A Decision That Resonated Across a City

The moment was quiet in delivery but enormous in meaning. The singer, daughter of Dominican and Colombian immigrants, knew the consequences could reach her career, her access, or even her safety. Still, Nezza followed her instinct. In a video later posted to her TikTok, her voice trembles not from stage fright, but from the emotion that trailed her choice. “They told me no,” she says, recalling a Dodgers official’s instruction to switch languages. “But I just felt like I needed to do it.”

@babynezza

para mi gente ❤️ i stand with you

♬ original sound – nezz

What she did not expect was the reaction. The stadium erupted in applause. Some stood. Some shouted back in Spanish. For a few seconds, the language of the Latino community filled one of baseball’s most sacred cathedrals. Her decision was met with questions online, but no punishment. Contrary to rumors, Nezza was not banned from returning. She was not escorted out. In fact, she stood taller in the days that followed.

Even Dodgers player Kike Hernández took to Instagram to share his sadness and wrote that “ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights.” By doing so, he reminded people that he stands with his community.

An Anthem Written for the Americas

What Nezza brought into that space was not rebellion for rebellion’s sake. It was history returning to its roots.

In 1945, under the Good Neighbor policy, the U.S. Department of State commissioned a Spanish version of the national anthem. The request was diplomatic, cultural, and political. The composer chosen for the task was Clotilde Arias, a Peruvian immigrant living in New York. She worked in advertising, writing jingles for Campbell’s, Ford, and IBM, but the anthem required something different — a translation that preserved meter, rhyme, and solemnity. Arias succeeded. Her version, titled “El Pendón Estrellado,” was never widely distributed and, like much of Latino history in the United States, faded quietly into archives until it was revived by the Smithsonian in 2012.

That version was not what Nezza used word for word, but its spirit carried in her act — a reminder that Spanish-language has long had a place in U.S. history.

The Power of a Song

Nezza is no stranger to performance. Before launching her solo music career with tracks like “Sola” and “Corazón Frío,” she danced for Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, and Zendaya. Her stage presence is polished. Her fanbase is strong. But this moment felt different. It was not rehearsed. It was not branded. It was raw, deliberate, and deeply personal.

And the response made something clear: the anthem belongs to those who build the country, regardless of which language they speak it in.