Madonna's Prince Tribute At The Billboard Awards: Horrific Or Humble?

Questlove from The Roots introduced the final performance at this year’s Billboard Awards. "We lost Prince," he said, emphasising the musical community and fans. Speaking slowly and stumbling slightly over his words, Quest wore all black with a purple “Love” symbol on his lapel. "I say ‘we’ because it affects us all — no matter what music we make, no matter our race, our colour, our creed, our sexual orientation, all of us live in the land of music, and his departure from it was an earthquake." 

He continued to say that with the loss of Prince, "Every day we will encounter new ways to remember him — every time we hear a really great guitar solo we’re going to remember; for that matter any time we hear a funky bass line, a synthesiser or distinctive drum pattern, someone singing a high falsetto, someone singing low, someone screaming, or seeing someone wearing a yellow suit with the rear removed," the latter a reference to Prince’s 1991 performance at the MTV VMAs.

Quest continued, "So I just wanted a moment to remember him — the great Prince Rogers Nelson. It can be a moment's silence here, but inside of our heads it should be anything but silent." The tribute began with Prince’s voice announcing the beginning of Let’s Go Crazy as the audience stood. The ‘moment’ of silence was filled with synth and Prince’s echoey voice proclaiming, "Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to talk about this thing called… Life." Amen.

Next, Madonna was revealed on a purple throne wearing a Prince-inspired suit, working her way through Nothing Compares 2 U with a straight beat that was as much Sinead O’Connor’s version as Prince’s. Her voice cracked with, "it’s been so lonely without you here, like a bird without a song" and "Girl you better try to have fun no matter what you do". Behind Madonna’s performance, gravestones with the word "Brother", "Hope" and "Immortality" appeared on a large screen, then a montage of images of Prince himself during the instrumental. She sang, "All the flowers you planted baby" — and she visibly shook as she did it. Madonna truly vulnerable, truly humble, truly mortal. It was beautiful.

Remember, for all the shit we’ve given her (including a 8,000 odd strong petition against her even doing the tribute), she is now the last of the holy '80s pop trinity – MJ and Prince leaving too soon. Her relatively minimalist performance was not unlike the high, soft version of Madonna she was when she collaborated with him way back in the day for Love Song.

Her comments from the time about how the collaboration happened (and what else might have happened) demand respect. Who else would have had the balls to challenge Prince (and the stamina to even try to keep up?)

After Nothing Compares 2 U, Stevie Wonder arrived from left of stage to perform a duet with Madonna for Purple Rain — his voice taking the lead on the opening line as she got it together. The two stood in the middle of the stage holding hands and singing along with the crowd. The cameras flashed back to famous faces in the crowd, notably Rihanna who at first appeared a little shy of the attention, but then sang along with her hand on her chest. At the conclusion, Madonna and Stevie thanked each other, then ended the set, and the show, with "Thank you, Prince Rogers Nelson, for all that you have given us".

Watch: Stevie Wonder and @Madonna pay tribute to Prince at the #BBMAs https://t.co/VIlBnzZkWp https://t.co/S1wHpqvmw9

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 23, 2016

This article has been amended 24 May 2016. The article initially stated that Madonna altered the lyrics of Nothing Compares 2 U but this was incorrect.