Sheila. E. is still a badass! I couldn't watch this Sunday, and but I've watched it 7 times now. And good God it's funky. I've cried at the end every time. If I have the chance to see Sheila live soon, I'm going!

wizardtelly said:

kitbradley said:

Jennifer wiped up whe floor with that song!!! . She NEVER disappoints. For those who complain she was screaming too much and over-singing, she's a SOUL singer with gospel roots. That's what they do. A lot of you listen to these watered-down lil chicks like Beyonce and Rhianna and think that's authentic R&B music when it is not. Jennifer is a singer who moves and touches the soul, which is what legitimate R&B singers are supposed to do. She did justice to the song and she alone made up for that atrocious Madonna monstrocity on the Grammy Awards. And for those who tend to have short memories, Prince used to do more than his share of Soul screaming and shouting because his roots were in R&B/Soul music.

I personally do not think she was screaming AT ALL. My only issue with Jennifer Hudson is that she does over-sing. There are some singers who, by development, learn how to do that and it happens often with a lot of church born singers. A perfect example of not over singing would be Whitney. That was a church singer, but she made everything contemporary enjoyable because of the exponential ability/inherent ability she had to control her voice. I personally don't find Jennifer Hudson to be soulful, whatsoever. I just think of her as Gospel singer who can take you to church no matter what she is singing. That's not a bad thing. Fantasia is another example, she always takes you to church, but her voice is much more soulful because of her tone and also her ability to use her voice outside of the context of familiarity. She will take you to church, the party, the funeral, and the wedding. The problem with ANYONE singing Purple Rain is that it's an extremely simple song, that people try to make intricate and complex for very clear reasons: it is a hard song to sing. I think people think of Prince's genius as unmatchable because he could make songs that were extremely simple in composition context and still make you feel something much deeper than his compositions brought forth. It takes a certain person to sing Purple Rain really beautifully and touchingly. Jennifer didn't do a bad job, it was beautiful, but yes she did over-sing. Many people over sing Purple Rain because at its core? It's a gospel song a la 80's strong pop ballad. Lol. Patti singing Purple Rain was brilliant also, but again, oversinging a very powerful song. It doesn't matter who you are, how brilliant your voice is, or your status: Purple Rain is DIFFICULT. It would take a soul wrenching singer like Otis Redding (who also took it to church in his day) to get you in the core without oversinging. While this is opinion, it is simple fact that Purple Rain is hard to cover.

I agree with what you stated.

PR is an exteremly simple song but the strength of the song is in the simplicity of the song and quietness of it that still moves you emotionally.

Some think that in order to be moved you must "go to church" but to "quote" Prince "when a man screams you must learn to whisper" and that is what PR is, a whisper of a song that moves you deeply.

You must trust the lyrics of the song and the emotion you feel and let that flow through you. Not "belting" it out like it is a gospel song.

Now I would love to hear Thunder done by a church choir as to me that song calls for it.

paulludvig said:

babynoz said:

The Revs and The Time too.

The Time is overseas but I really thought they would make it back in for the show. Maybe they couldn't get a flight soon enough.

If you check the Revs social media they real quiet.

Yeah. Not very generous imo. Why not acknowledge the Sheila put together a great tribute?

Fdeluxe was very gracious....

https://twitter.com/TheFdeluxe

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

could have done without this one...

Maybe but I had to give her props for daring it.

I will take this any day over cemetery headstones and watching the symbol burn.

Talk about gaggng on a gnat and swallowing a camel.

Baduizm said:

babynoz said:

D fans should be used to him being MIA by now. I'm satisfied with his SNL tribute.

D'Angelo and the Princess' tribute aired two days after P passed on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon."

Hope he's doing okay.

positivity88 said:

Sheila. E. is still a badass! I couldn't watch this Sunday, and but I've watched it 7 times now. And good God it's funky. I've cried at the end every time. If I have the chance to see Sheila live soon, I'm going!

She's always done a great version of Erotic City in her shows...

Anyone else watching this from the UK right now? Purple Rain's just ended... All those photos of Prince in the background around the stage , was it also Prince's voice during the ending

migmigmig said:

It's funny the moments that make you emotional.

**

I had various moments that got to me, but at the very end when the purple flower-petal confetti came down I just .... it killed me. Killed. It reminded me how when he would end the PR-era shows with Purple Rain and there was that loooooong denouement after he left the stage where the music was still playing, softly, on loop (the final strains of Purple Rain) and there was confetti and sparkly lights like stars and you had just had this BIG experience and was it over, or was there more? Where was he? Where the hell was he from, was he even human, and how did he make me just feel that way? How is this moment encapsulating my whole life, and where my life is going (how I felt when I was a teenager watching this happen) and now how I feel about where my life has been (now that I'm a middle-aged person)?

**

So much of his music is literally the sound of yearning, and now that yearning feels so different because it's yearning that can never be remedied, because he's gone.

[Edited 6/28/16 10:57am]

The end got to me like that for the same reason-

Bilal says he was originally scheduled to do "Do Me, Baby." That would have brought the house down, too.

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/bilals-prince-tribute-originally-wasnt-the-beautiful-ones.html

wizardtelly said:

leslievette said:

I noticed when she held her tight. Man, this is so unreal. I think Mayte did it for me, especially. Her presence was really special. Didn't he once say something along of the lines of "There's no use in playing if Mayte's not up there dancing" or something like that? I know he would have wanted her up there, despite how things ended. Kudos to Sheila for making this incredible.

You definitely Mis-read that quote, the difference a word or two makes is astronomical! He said, "there's no use in playing that song if Mayte isn't dancing to it," in regards to a song he wrote based around her dancing.

The quote is actually "Mayte's not here to dance. And if Mayte's not here to dance, then there's no point in singing those songs anymore." which is a little bit of both of your interpretations. But it's someone's memory of a quote, so I don't think direct verbage is as important as why it was said.

27minutes:47seconds in:

babynoz said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Love that her tattoo matches her drums.

WhisperingDandelions said:

jumanji2016 said:

WhisperingDandelions said: I don't know, I'm 27, and I feel like teenagers today have LESS of an excuse for not knowing who Prince is than my generation. The Internet has had more development and devised more algorithms than it did when I was a kid...when you still had to become familiar with an artist through magazines, radio, music videos, and the occasional interviewing. All of this information is literally at their disposal with YouTube, Google, Google Play, Tidal, iTunes, their favorite artists paying homage now and many of them referencing him long before his death. Kids seem to find material from more idiotic artists just fine. No reason why they can't find a gem like Prince. He's part of music's Mount Rushmore...even if you didn't know a song, you knew him. I wasn't alive when Purple Rain came out and my mom who was born in '58 like he was didn't own his records--but I've known who he was most of my life. He was on television A LOT during those years...especially '99 and 2000. I even remember him stopping by Total Request Live on MTV which was a top show musically for my generation. Social media wasn't even available 20 years ago and the Internet was still in infancy compared to what we have now, so I can't agree that he 'removed himself'. He was like one of the first artists to market his music sales through the Intrrnet with NPG as a matter of fact...when people were still doing Columbia House mailings. [Edited 6/27/16 7:03am]

While your points on the internet are valid (and 100% how I became a Prince fan when I was 13 or 14), the methods of discovery you listed.. okay, these work for other artists, but, Prince on YouTube was virtually non-existent prior to two months ago. Tidal is cool, but it's new, and whether you agree with the ethics or not most young people just aren't going to pay to stream when Pandora and Spotify are a click away. Three major teenage sources that he simply didn't exist on.

And I never say they didn't know who he was, just that they have little familarity with the music itself. I don't think you should hold it against someone, say, 25 years old for not getting into Prince based on a TRL appearance that aired once when they were 8.

Good point, while he was praised in the early 2000's for being an internet pioneer with the NPG Music Club, I never really understood why. He was sabotaging himself by constantly trying to scrub the internet of anything he didn't authorize or wasn't getting paid for explicitly.

wizardtelly said:

It takes a certain person to sing Purple Rain really beautifully and touchingly. Jennifer didn't do a bad job, it was beautiful, but yes she did over-sing. Many people over sing Purple Rain because at its core? It's a gospel song a la 80's strong pop ballad. Lol. Patti singing Purple Rain was brilliant also, but again, oversinging a very powerful song. It doesn't matter who you are, how brilliant your voice is, or your status: Purple Rain is DIFFICULT. It would take a soul wrenching singer like Otis Redding (who also took it to church in his day) to get you in the core without oversinging. While this is opinion, it is simple fact that Purple Rain is hard to cover.

The only other performer I've heard do Purple Rain really well is Adam Levine. Check it out on YouTube.

babynoz said:

paulludvig said:

Yeah. Not very generous imo. Why not acknowledge the Sheila put together a great tribute?

Fdeluxe was very gracious....

https://twitter.com/TheFdeluxe

That's cool!

OldFriends4Sale said:

could have done without this one...

It made me laugh. I took it as a cute reference to that risqué side of his image. Good to have a bit of levity in there, too.

CROWNS1 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Love that her tattoo matches her drums.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Sheila E. came through with the tribute P. deserved. Wow, I didn't know she was older than Prince... Love the shoeless feet and the knee slide...

deebee said:

babynoz said:

Baduizm said:

D'Angelo and the Princess' tribute aired two days after P passed on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon."

Hope he's doing okay.

Me too.

I finally watched the show, the tributes were great but my fav Sheila E damn her set brought the house down https://www.youtube.com/w...SBztVqujCA

Goddess4Real said:

I finally watched the show, the tributes were great but my fav Sheila E damn her set brought the house down https://www.youtube.com/w...SBztVqujCA

I saw Sheila & co. first on a shitty stream... I just now saw her tribute in full HD and it had me crying because it was so beautiful and spontaneous. I love how she invited Mayte to perform and Mayte grabbed her at the end when they raised the cloud guitar in tribute to Prince... Who can top this? No one. Heart-felt as hell. I didn't know Sheila was older than Prince...

migmigmig said:

Fancymaxy98 said:

migmigmig said:

It's funny the moments that make you emotional.

**

I had various moments that got to me, but at the very end when the purple flower-petal confetti came down I just .... it killed me. Killed. It reminded me how when he would end the PR-era shows with Purple Rain and there was that loooooong denouement after he left the stage where the music was still playing, softly, on loop (the final strains of Purple Rain) and there was confetti and sparkly lights like stars and you had just had this BIG experience and was it over, or was there more? Where was he? Where the hell was he from, was he even human, and how did he make me just feel that way? How is this moment encapsulating my whole life, and where my life is going (how I felt when I was a teenager watching this happen) and now how I feel about where my life has been (now that I'm a middle-aged person)?

**

So much of his music is literally the sound of yearning, and now that yearning feels so different because it's yearning that can never be remedied, because he's gone.

[Edited 6/28/16 10:57am]

I felt like that when Janelle started to sing Kiss. It was just somethng about seeing the dancer with the veil that just got to me. It just reminded me so much of Prince in the video. Parade is my favorite album. I had a flashback of my 13 year old self listening to that album repeatedly. I completely lost it. The pose at the end of Sheila and Co's set made it really final for me. It's like they were acknowledging him in the afterlife.

It's not like they were--they DID acknowledge him in this life and the one after this... THAT was the tribute I was waiting for...

BklynDiamond said:

Some think that in order to be moved you must "go to church" but to "quote" Prince "when a man screams you must learn to whisper" and that is what PR is, a whisper of a song that moves you deeply.

You must trust the lyrics of the song and the emotion you feel and let that flow through you. Not "belting" it out like it is a gospel song.

Well said.

I would have enjoyed the performance if she had focused more on lyrical accuracy instead of showcasing her "belting" skills. First and foremost, get the damn words right. It was like screwing up the National Anthem.

Tom said:

Good point, while he was praised in the early 2000's for being an internet pioneer with the NPG Music Club, I never really understood why. He was sabotaging himself by constantly trying to scrub the internet of anything he didn't authorize or wasn't getting paid for explicitly.

ha, yeah, I wanted to throw in something about the NPG Music Club part of that reply but I didn't want to get excessive. "One of the first to market his music through the internet," exactly, when barely anyone had the internet.

I mean, I had the internet (for some of those years, dial-up), but not everybody I knew had it by a long shot, and when they finally started to, well, now he'd taken down the club and was waging a one-man war against the internet instead, so..

Like watching one of his award show appearances from his internet era, and his personally-chosen presenter Chris Rock actually made the joke, "Now if we could only get the internet in Compton."

[Edited 6/29/16 0:26am]

[Edited 6/29/16 0:29am]

purplethunder3121 said: