Madonna took to the stage at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards last night (May 22) for a tribute to Prince, singing a version of “Nothing Compares 2 U.” It would seem that many Prince fans would agree with the sentiment of the song when it comes to Madonna channeling the late singer’s performance.
The 57-year-old pop star also teamed up with Stevie Wonder to cover “Purple Rain,” ending the awards ceremony with the crowd inside Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena singing along and waving purple lights. She closed by thanking “Prince Rogers Nelson” for everything.
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As two of the biggest pop stars of the last 30 years, Prince and Madonna’s paths crossed many times. They dated briefly in 1985, had on-and-off again public spats, and collaborated on “Love Song” for her 1989 album Like A Prayer.
Even before the awards, some Prince devotees were against her performing the tribute, with a petition on Change.org amassing almost 9,000 signatures.
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During and after the performance, many critics on Twitter went in.
Please don't have Madonna attempt a prince song
— Dave Stewart (@DaveStewart) May 23, 2016
Prince's ashes bout to reanimate like MJ in the Remember the Time video.
— Freckle Goddess (@WhoIsDommie) May 23, 2016
Wonder what @Prince thought about @Madonna tribute at the #BBMAs ? pic.twitter.com/EtRc4MLT86
— Kevin Frazier (@KevinFrazier) May 23, 2016
#Prince hearing #Madonna'svoice from heaven on the #BBMAs#IJSpic.twitter.com/lQ0Q82KZoy
— Karamo Brown (@KaramoBrown) May 23, 2016
Why did they pick Madonna for this again? #BBMAspic.twitter.com/kDFdtKvgEB
— Travon Free (@Travon) May 23, 2016
Even BET threw shade at the performance, while promoting its own tribute to The Purple One at the upcoming June 26 BET Awards, with a video that said, “Yeah, we saw that. Don’t worry. We Got You.” The post has more than 10,000 retweets.
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https://twitter.com/BET/status/734584199546589184
Not everyone hated it though. Many fans praised the performance for its emotional rawness and credited Madonna for keeping the tribute centered around Prince and not Madonna herself.
His Purple Heart was there in spirit. Long may He Reign! ?☔️? pic.twitter.com/o8fb8Cq6Fh
— Madonna (@Madonna) May 23, 2016
The Roots’ Questlove was one of the more prominent voices defending Madonna, and he also introduced the tribute with a touching speech and a moment of silence.
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“On April 21st, we lost Prince. I say ‘we,’ because it affects us all, and no matter what kind of music we make, no matter how long we have made it, no matter our race, our color, our creed, our sexual orientation, all of us live in the land of music. And his departure from it was an earthquake,” Questlove said. “But his departure leaves behind so much work still to do. And we can follow the trails he blazed. We can follow his example. We can be fierce. We can be uncompromising. We can be experimental. We can also listen to all of those songs that he left for us. He was very, very generous in that regard. And as we move forward, we will encounter, every single day, more reasons to remember him.”
because of P's well known love for the *poof* vanishing act. A lot of us are left feeling incomplete in the act of saying goodbye.
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
For starters it's hard to accept him no longer being here. & in the upcoming award season for '17 there will be a gang of tributes
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
Naturally there will be folded arms & shade thrown because the Purple Standard is hard boots to fill & a lot of us don't wanna come 2 grips
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
—w the fact that Prince–(an on the surface) face of health & invincible agelessness subcomb to something so….friggin basic
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
So w mourning will come sadness & anger. 1st week I cried. 2nd week I tried to atone for his sins w gettin 8-10 hrs of sleep he didn't get
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
Now anger is in the air w who (in our eyes) is allowed to mourn & how they are allowed to mourn.—none of us were prepared for his death
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
So I know there is gonna be ALOT of "feel a certain ways" about who you want to see do his music justice—but you gotta put that aside yall
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
Every Prince rendition will not be a life changing orgasmic xperience. Just to SING his work is brave enough. Again feeling are on high
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
And EVERYBODY wants and deserves a chance to say goodbye in their own way. But remember: there will be AMAs, SoulTrain, NAACP, mtv, GRAMMYS
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
And a gazillion other tributes. But the point is let's not get ugly w playing the "Prince would and wouldn't approve" game.
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
It's hard editing and ranting and running in airport. I didn't realize my gate bout to close. Don't wanna get fired in the name of Prince
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
….& this isn't *just about* the Madge/Stevie tribute btw
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016
I've been gettin earfuls from in/outside the Purple Circle concerning inclu/exclusions of his estate/work/memorials/tributes who in who not.
— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 23, 2016