Image Source: The Guardian BY KERRY LEARY AND CANDICE AVILES President Barack Obama’s second inauguration spurred a lot of conversation about controversial issues -- like climate change and same sex marriage... but someone made more buzz than the president himself-- Beyonce. “ So if the biggest cheer yesterday was for the president , the second biggest may have been for Beyonce, who sang the national anthem at the end of the inauguration ceremony.” “O’er the land of the free and the home of brave the brave.” But sources surfaced Tuesday saying Beyonce’s stunning performance may have been lip-synced. The New York Post spoke with a band member who noted:   “All music is pre-recorded for the ceremony because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day … We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyonce was going to use the pre-recorded vocal track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don’t know what the reason why.”   Some say it would have been difficult to hear the band if she was actually singing after she took out her earpiece during the song. While Yo-Yo Ma’s 2008 cello performance was recorded in 2008 because of high wind - if Beyonce really did lip-sync, she would be the first known performer to have done so during the inauguration. The Daily Caller notes: “Beyoncé may have unwittingly given her lip-syncing ways away. On Jan. 20,  she posted an Instagram photo of herself in a recording studio holding the sheet music of the national anthem. In another photo, she is sitting in front of a microphone and recording equipment.   Additionally Buzzfeed reports , Beyonce didn’t rehearse with the band until the night before inauguration. The band director says she was too busy preparing for the Superbowl. But a writer for TMZ says... “Beyonce just sang the national anthem at Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration -- but the question ... was it the worst performance of her career? NO. OF COURSE NOT. IT WAS F**KING AWESOME. You people can be so negative sometimes.”   But whether or not Beyonce really did lip sync, The Hill reports , she was the talk of the town on Facebook. “Facebook reported that conversations about Beyonce, who sang the national anthem during President Obama's second swearing-in, went up 42,450 percent compared to normal on Monday. That far exceeds the Facebook chatter about inauguration or the topic ‘President Obama.’”