Usher and FKA Twigs celebrate Prince at Grammys

Much less than 4 many years just after his tragic demise, Prince earned a tribute at the Grammy Awards from a fellow legend when Usher returned to centre stage for the initially time considering that he joined a younger Justin Bieber at the 2011 ceremony. Backed by longtime Prince percussionist Sheila E. and, on the pole, British avant-pop star FKA Twigs, Usher led viewers by means of a medley of the fallen genius’s operate.

For the duration of her introduction, Alicia Keys state-of-the-art the medley with a teaser for an approaching CBS primary-time distinctive on Prince at the Grammys. Plug reached, the eight-time Grammy winner Usher walked on stage donning a quick Prince-esque purple jacket. Usher opened with his take on “Little Red Corvette” ahead of going into his minimalist funk jams “When Doves Cry” and “Kiss.” In his lifetime as an artist, Prince earned a whopping 38 Grammy nominations, and won 7. Memorably, in 2007 Prince joined then-growing star Beyoncé for a medley of his and her hits, which includes “Crazy in Love” and “Purple Rain.”

Though FKA Twigs misplaced to Lil Nas X‘s “Old City Road” in the video classification before in the working day, she earned extra eyeballs for the duration of this nighttime efficiency. She was nominated in the tunes video classification for “Cellophone, ” but somewhat than sign up for Usher and Sheila E. to sing for the duration of the medley, FKA Twigs’ sole role was not as an modern artist, but as pole-dancer to Prince’s jams. The seeming slight was rapidly mentioned on social media, wherever admirers expressed outrage at what seemed like a lesser assignment.