Adele surprised everybody at the Grammys by taking up the “George Michael tribute performance” mantle, and from the start many people could tell something was slightly off. It was shades of last year’s show when Adele sounded extremely off key during her performance of “All I Ask” and had to apologize for the letdown caused by behind the scenes Grammys issues after her performance. She wasn’t happy about it then, and during George Michael’s tribute she wasn’t about to let it happen again. Just a short time into the song, Adele stopped and swore about the performance up to that point and then asked the Grammys to let her start again, saying “I can’t do it again like last year.”
"F***" – Adele pic.twitter.com/StrklrD8ZV
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) February 13, 2017
Upon her restart, she succeeded in blowing the crowd away and finishing the song without a hitch. The request to stop the performance might have seemed rude to some, but Adele was clearly personally connected to the performance and felt deeply about that it go well and honor his memory.
She later apologized again during her acceptance speech for Single of the Year, saying that she was sorry for offending anyone but that George Michael simply meant, and continues to mean, so much to her that she could not possibly let the performance go on if it wasn’t absolutely 100%. Many fans of both her and the late Michael probably understand what she was talking about, as he was such a guiding force for people around the world throughout the 80’s and 90’s. Any failure to make the song the best it could be would be a shame.
