Sheila E. spoke to Justin Timberlake ahead of his Super Bowl performance and warned him against using a hologram of the late Prince.
The “Purple Rain” hitmaker made an appearance via a video projection during Justin’s half-time show at the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018, rather than a hologram (which was the original plan), as the singer thought holograms were “demonic,” according to his ex Sheila E.
She told “Entertainment Tonight,” “I just said no. I just felt that it was too soon. The hologram was weird, and Prince did tell me [to] make sure nobody ever does a hologram of [him]. ‘If you’re still here, make sure nobody does a hologram.’ He thought it was very demonic and that’s his spiritual beliefs. Justin reached out to me last night and we had a good conversation, and then I assured the fans that there is no hologram.”
Meanwhile, Justin previously admitted he had a “moment” performing with Prince at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota — Prince’s hometown.
He said, “It’s a moment for me, if I’m being quite honest, because he’s always been the pinnacle of musicianship for me. And when we decided that [we were going to do a tribute], like the serendipity and the synergy that we would be Minneapolis, and that he’s such a special thing here aside from what he is all over the world. I just felt like I wanted to do something for this city and something for him that would just be the ultimate homage to what I consider the G.O.A.T. of musicians.
“You have to understand, we got the actual vocal stems from ‘I Would Die 4 U’ — the actual recording — and then we got the uncut version of it and ‘Purple Rain’ and some way by the grace of Prince looking down on us, it synced up. It was like this crazy, serendipitous moment. I wanted to use that opportunity to do something special for this city but also my favorite musician of all time.”
