Purple Reign: tributes for Prince pour in from Broadway, social media & the world

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I guess I thought Prince was going to be immortal. I was not alone – most people seem shocked that Prince was a human after all, that he wasn’t some magical alien-unicorn who would simply turn into stardust at some point. The outpouring of emotion, grief and sadness for Prince’s passing has been all-encompassing. Every news outlet is doing wall-to-wall coverage, which just goes to show you that Prince was for every generation, every person, everywhere. Google changed their main page so that “Google” was purple, with purple rain. Many cities around the world lit up their landmarks with purple lights. Here are some of the bigger tributes pouring in.

The Hamilton tribute. After last night’s Hamilton show, Lin-Manuel Miranda led the cast in a “Let’s Go Crazy” dance-off.

Jennifer Hudson’s tribute. J-Hud is on Broadway doing The Color Purple and after last night’s show, J-Hud and the cast did “Purple Rain” and it actually worked perfectly.

Stephen Colbert spoke on The Late Show. He devoted part of his opening monologue to Prince, then he and Tom Hanks talked about how much they loved Prince.

Tilda Swinton thought Prince was a modern Mozart. She told People Magazine a lovely story about watching Prince play at a tiny little NYC club just after he played Madison Square Garden – go here to read her comments.

Guitarist Andrew Watt & Justin Bieber. Watt wrote a lovely Instagram post about how Prince was “the last of the greatest living performers…my guitar idol…his connection to ALL his instruments yielded a sexual transcending aura and the world is just less f–king cool without him walking on it.” And then Justin Bieber commented with Well not the last greatest living performer.” Bieber later deleted the comment because of course.

The New Yorker cover.

prince

Madonna and Prince were once pretty friendly:

He Changed The World!! A True Visionary. What a loss. I'm Devastated.🦄 This is Not A Love Song.

A photo posted by Madonna (@madonna) on

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Instagram, cover courtesy of The New Yorker.

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65 Responses to “Purple Reign: tributes for Prince pour in from Broadway, social media & the world”

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  1. Shambles says:

    But he IS a magical alien unicorn who turned into stardust 😢

    Rest in power, baby.

  2. Mimz says:

    wow Bieber, you WISH and that wish won’t come true, sorry to say.

    The tributes are all quite lovely. The world has to say goodbye now…

    • Locke Lamora says:

      See, Bieber is a moron, and HE definitely isn’t the greatest living performer, but I kinda agree. Prince might have been the greatest living American performer. Or English-speaking performer. I’m kinda tired of Americans and Brits equating the world with their countries.

      • Jen says:

        I see your point but still, not the time or the place for his comment…and I feel fairly sure Bieber was mostly talking about himself.

      • Locke Lamora says:

        Yeah, of course, as I said, Bieber is a moron.

      • lucy2 says:

        Coming from someone else, I’d give them the benefit of the doubt, but from him? No. This is the same jackass who went through Anne Frank’s house, and came away only with the conclusion that she would have been a “Belieber”.

    • Loopy says:

      Maybe he meant there were still others around like Madonna,Cyndi Lauper,Cher,The Rolling Stones,Mariah,Janet Jackson,Paul Mcartney etc

      • OrigialTessa says:

        Or himself. He only thinks of himself.

      • kodakay says:

        In my honorable opinion, none of them could touch Prince. If you ever saw him in concert you knew you were watching magic happen. I know some will disagree that’s why I said it was MY opinion.

      • meme says:

        Prince was one of a kind…a true original.

    • Petee says:

      Bieber is a moron.Of course he was talking about himself.These entitled young stars of today need to learn some respect.R.I.P.Prince.

    • Carmen says:

      Found this comment in my Facebook feed this morning:
      “Dear God, you can have Justin Bieber, Kanye West, all the Kardashians and Donald Trump if you just give us Prince back.”

      I almost fell out of bed laughing.

  3. Psu Doh Nihm says:

    I wonder if Tamron Hall will be on the today show this morning, considering how they were very close.

  4. V4Real says:

    God this man will be missed. Such a beautiful talented soul.
    I admire people such as Prince and Hendrix who were self taught musicians. Definitely gone too soon.

  5. Jayna says:

    The tributes have been amazing and beautiful to see photos of gatherings and really beautiful things said by many artists.

  6. mia girl says:

    That New Yorker cover is wonderful.

    • Alix says:

      It’s gorgeous. And, while it has a different feel entirely, I also loved the (NY) Daily News’ headline today: “RIP, You Sexy Mother”

  7. lucy2 says:

    The Color Purple one blew me away, I can’t imagine what that was like to experience in person. Is the other woman Cynthia Erivo? Wow.

    • mia girl says:

      I’m in tears.

    • Giddy says:

      That audience was so lucky to experience such a moment. I don’t know who the first singer was either, but she was amazing. The New Yorker cover is wonderful. I know it’s Purple Rain, but it also looks like tears.

    • lilacflowers says:

      When I started playing that one, my cat jumped up on the desk and stuck her little face up against the monitor until it ended. Even a Maine coon cat was touched by it.

    • OrigialTessa says:

      Am I the only one that thinks Jennifer Hudson is one of the great talents of our time, and is underrated to an almost absurd degree???? Shivers every time she opens her mouth to sing. I could listen to her read the phone book. Beautiful tribute. She and her costar.

      • lucy2 says:

        I’m with you. I saw her appearance on that carpool karaoke not too long ago, and it reminded me what a powerhouse voice she has.
        I hope she’s just picky and only doing work meaningful to her, and not that there are limited opportunities for her.

      • Grant says:

        Her voice is nuclear powered. She absolutely sent chills up my spine. What an amazing tribute!

    • Kk says:

      Yea that was incredible. Gave me chills. Also wondering who that first woman was because…damn!

    • Jayna says:

      Yeah, what an amazing tribute. To be there iive and hear it must have definitely been an experience.

    • LAK says:

      The actress who starts the song is Cynthis Erivo. She’s a british acress. Doing us proud….as inapropriate a patriotic shout out is here.

    • holly hobby says:

      The Jennifer Hudson video actually gave me chills. It was beautiful!

    • Tulip Garden says:

      Agreeing with all of those that think Cynthis Erivo, of whom I’ve never heard, was absolutely amazing in this. I thought Hudson was good too but Erivo was just, wow!

    • yas says:

      Yes, the first vocalist in Cynthia Erivo! She’s a powerhouse, a true star. I hope she’s around a long, long time. So tiny, so it’s incredible to hear that voice coming out of her. She + Jennifer Hudson singing together = magic.

  8. QQ says:

    Yo the tributes are touching and I loved how even Charlie Rose’s tie and the cbs news banner this morning were purple… that said I laughed myself right into tears cackling about Justin Bieber!!!, the Utter audacity of the little Sh!thead!!!

  9. Ciru says:

    My heart is broken. His music pretty much raised me.

  10. Pip says:

    OMG that Justin Bieber comment. He hasn’t learnt anything, has he. Blimey.

  11. Sarah01 says:

    He was someone who did it all not like these auto tuned crappy “artists” like Bieber or pretentious Gaga, they get spoon fed / copy everything.
    He actually understood and loved music. He was a musician, writer, composer, entertainer etc. He was a true artist, perfecting his craft. He was way ahead of his time a visionary.
    Only now in mainstream society people are talking about gender fluidity he was talking about it 20 30 years ago.

    A lot of these singers don’t play instruments or even read music they can’t even sing properly. He wanted more artistic control not just money and left the monstrous labels, created his own. He was an individual in every sense of the word. He shall be missed.

    Love the cover!

  12. Miss Grace Jones says:

    Frank Ocean had a wonderful tribute

  13. Sayrah says:

    I’ve been so moved by all the tributes that I will fight the urge to address JB’s stupid yet predictable comment.

  14. lilacflowers says:

    The tributes are all so lovely and moving and it seems like his soul is being up on clouds of purple love, purple light, and purple sound while purple rain washes away his pain.

  15. OrigialTessa says:

    Sometimes I wish I was back in college and Justin Bieber would pass out drunk on my couch so I could shave off his eyebrows and fill them in with sharpie. Ugh, I hate him. Actual hate. The kind your parents tell you is bad.

  16. kri says:

    unbearable.The New Yorker cover…oh damn. this is very painful.I will miss him.

  17. Dragonlady sakura says:

    The beautiful one has left the building and will be missed. I spent all day yesterday crying and listening to all his music. His fans were blessed to experience such a brilliant artist. Thankfully his music will live on forever. RIP 😘

  18. Ariel says:

    Jennifer Hudson sings beautifully, but the amazing woman in the yellow pants gave me, the audience, and her co-start goosebumps. Every time she hits those STRONG notes, the hairs on my arms stand on end. Damn. She did Prince right.

    • lucy2 says:

      Cynthia Erivo, I just looked her up, she’s a British actress and TCP is her Broadway debut. I loved how the other performer grabbed her head like “OMG!” when she belted it out.

    • yas says:

      I’ve been obsessed with Cynthia Erivo ever since I saw this production. She’s so, so, so amazing. Highly recommend this video of her performing “I’m Here” from the show. She was the only person on a bare set during this number and the entire audience just lost it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbvaQaB5JfM

  19. Jayna says:

    I pulled out his Diamonds and Pearls album yesterday. I hadn’t listened to it in years. What an album.

    • Happy21 says:

      I brought out what I’ve got on CD. Unfortunately, I gave up my cassettes a few years ago.

      I have Prince: The Hits Volume 1 & 2.

      It’s been years. My what funk, what spunk, what awesome rhythm. Music today is definitely lacking. There is a reason I absolutely loathe Top 40 pop music now, it’s shit.

    • aurelia says:

      The song Live for Love is the best off that album.

  20. Jaded says:

    Seeing Prince live was one of the high points of my musical concert-going history – he was nothing short of electrical on stage.

    RIP Prince, there will never be anyone like you.

  21. Pants says:

    I love the New Yorker cover.

  22. Amelie says:

    I don’t know too much about Prince’s music, but my local TV station is reporting that he was a generous albeit a quiet philanthropist.

  23. AlmondJoy says:

    Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t encourage people to stop taking medicine.

    EDIT: The comment I was responding to is no longer here.

  24. right meow says:

    Prince’s hometown threw a tribute concert at First Ave…the streets were blocked off and people danced and partied to his music until 7:00AM. It was amazing seeing the demographic of people who loved him and how he touched so many people’s lives.