On Sunday, May 22, Beyoncé gave an acclaimed and visually stunning performance of “Run The World (Girls)” at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards. But her performance also drew criticism for its striking resemblance to a performance by Italian pop singer Lorella Cuccarini. Although many have speculated that Beyoncé ripped-off Cuccarini, the “Single Ladies” siren is now claiming that she didn’t copy the performance, but was inspired by it.
In an interview with AOL Music, Beyonce revealed that the inspiration for her performance came from watching a video of Cuccarini’s performance at the 2010 Sanremo Italian music festival.
“My makeup artist showed me the performance of Lorella Cuccarini a year ago, and it inspired me so much,” Beyonce says. “I then met with the talented people who worked on it. The technology and concept were so genius. Thank God for YouTube or I would have never been exposed to something so inspiring.”
To help her channel her inspiration, Beyoncé hired Kenzo Digital and the Tribe Inc. Design, the same companies that handled Cuccarini’s performance, to handle her own Billboard show.
With an army of all-female backup dancers, a plethora of pyrotechnics and a large video projection screen, Beyoncé created a performance that she says was the most challenging of her career.
“I never worked so hard on anything in my life as that performance for the Billboard Awards,” said Beyoncé
What do you think of Beyoncé’s response to the copycat accusations? –nicholas robinson
