sTraversing through the wide array of hits he has managed during his career, Justin Timberlake paid a solid tribute to hometown hero Price on Sunday night.
Armed with a camaraderie of backup dancers, an extensive catalogue of hits, and an outfit which he had selected from the recent Patagonia x Cezanne collection, Justin Timberlake paid a fitting tribute to Prince during the halftime show of the Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis on Sunday night.
Starting with “Filthy’’ – a recent track from his recently released album “Man of the Woods’’, Justin began his performance backstage with what looked like an assortment of dancers. Afterwards, as he appeared on-stage, he turned to a mix of his classic hits, including “Suit & Tie,’’ “Cry Me A River,’’ ‘’Mirrors,’’ “Senorita,” and “My Love.”
Despite the fact that he chose a number of his own hits, the highlight of Justin’s performance was the cover of “I Would Die 4 U,’’ a huge hit of Prince. He took the emotions of the audience to a whole new level by singing the song alongside a projection of Prince doing the same. That was Justin’s way of paying tribute to the late singer, as the Super Bowl was held in the hometown of Prince this year.
While those inside the stadium were mostly acknowledging the effort on part of Justin to honor the late singer, the Twitter world wasn’t so impressed with his performance. Some Prince fans went so far as to degrade Justin’s performance as to link a 1998 interview of Prince with Guitar world.
During that interview, Prince had told the interviewer in unequivocal terms that he hated the use of holograms. While what Justin used wasn’t a hologram, that didn’t stop many of the Prince’s fans to be critical of his performance on Sunday night.
Prince's hologram would have vomited all over this.
— Jim Souhan (@SouhanStrib) February 5, 2018
One Twitter user was particularly furious with Justin’s performance as he stated that ‘’Prince continues to be misunderstood … even in death’’.
The Prince tribute would’ve been cool… except Prince specifically said he didn’t want that, right? Even in death, Prince continues to be misunderstood.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) February 5, 2018
Another Twitter user wanted to draw our attention to the rivalry which existed between Prince and Timberlake back during the day.
https://twitter.com/AvanJogia/status/960324573865574402
Some went as far as to claim that only a ‘mummified’’ hand of Prince could turn this performance in favor of Timberlake.
The only way this could turn out ok if if Prince’s mummified hand shoots down from space and chokes out JT on the 35 yard line
— Ben Silverman (@ben_silverman) February 5, 2018
Although they were in a minority, some people were not critical of Timberlake’s performance, with fellow actress Reese Witherspoon gushing in her praise.
Wow @jtimberlake .. just wow ! 🏈💥✨#SuperBowlLII
— Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) February 5, 2018
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