Janelle Monáe Reflects On Prince, Honoring Him At BET Awards With ‘Fearlessness’
Janelle Monáe honored Prince during this year’s BET Awards last Sunday (June 26), and in a recent interview, she opened up about what it meant to her and what went into preparing for the surely pressure-filled performance.
It was announced in early June, as the Inquisitr reported, that the BET Awards would honor the legendary singer/songwriter with a tribute by Monáe, Jennifer Hudson, D’Angelo, Sheila E., and The Roots.
The 30-year-old resurrected Prince’s infamous funk pop vibe, while remaining true to her own performance style at the same time. Prince was not only an inspiration to her musically, but also a friend and someone she had spent time talking about “music and life” with, as she wrote in a post after his shocking death on April 21 at just 53 years old. She knew she had to bring all of that emotion on stage with her.
“It’s hard when you lose a friend and a musical hero. I was just doing everything in his name. It wasn’t about Janelle Monáe that night, it was about Prince,” Monáe said of the experience, which included songs like “Kiss,” “Delirious,” “Pop Life,” and “I Would Die For You.”
Style was key to the tribute for Monáe; anyone who saw Prince for even a moment knows that the singer crafted his own unique way of presenting himself to the world through clothing and attitude. There was no way to do a tribute without honoring that aspect of him as well, and Monáe knew that.
Stylist Maeve Reilly and designer Sergio Hudson helped her to bring some of Prince’s most memorable outfits to life for the BET Awards.
“That moment was just about freedom and fearlessness and choosing freedom over fear. That’s what Prince represented. His style was just as incredible as his guitar playing, just incredible as his voice. He liked my style as well, so I wanted to create outfits that felt like this is Janelle Monáe and Prince,” she explained.
#PRINCE will always be forever.
— Janelle Monáe????? (@JanelleMonae) June 27, 2016
Prince being the creative force that he was, affecting millions of people with his expressive personality and soulful music, means that paying tribute to him on a stage is probably no easy feat. Viewer response to the tribute at the Billboard Music Awards in May is proof of that.
Madonna spearheaded that tribute to Prince, who was also a friend of hers. She opened with “Nothing Compares 2 U” before being joined by Stevie Wonder for an emotional duet of “Purple Rain,” the audience singing along as they waved hands covered with glowing purple wristbands.
The tribute wasn’t received well by many vocal Prince fans on social media — even BET’s official Twitter account weighed in with their own brand of shade as the tribute ended. “Yeah, we saw that. Don’t worry. We got you,” the caption for a BET Awards ad read.
Madonna’s response? She posted on Instagram that anyone — regardless of skin color, age, or gender — was allowed to pay tribute to the icon.
Thankfully, the BET Awards tribute was relatively drama-free. Much like the inspiring spirit Janelle Monáe reflected that Prince was, she’ll continue to make her mark on the world and demonstrate the need for awareness and unity in the black community.
The singer is set to star alongside Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer in Hidden Figures, a film due next year about three black women’s contributions to history while working at NASA during the space race.
Monáe says film on black women at NASA key part of history. #HIDDENFIGURES release date JAN 13, 2017! ?? https://t.co/EthY6GpF9g
— Janelle Monáe????? (@JanelleMonae) July 2, 2016
[Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP Images]
