Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja clutched the microphone and looked at the crowd for a moment before gazing into the camera. Wearing a white LA Galaxy jersey almost as big as she is, the 7-year-old, labeled as "tiny but mighty" by the MLS team's public address announcer, was ready to perform the national anthem on Sunday in front of more than 25,000 fans at StubHub Center in Los Angeles.
After humming the first line to herself, the 3-foot-9, 40-pound Los Angeles native raised her left arm and began. If she was nervous, it wasn’t evident. She was crushing it. Less than two minutes later, Malea Emma had belted out a striking rendition that was part Christina Aguilera and part Whitney Houston — and all soul.