A Student Shares Her Teacher’s Heartbreaking Reaction To Prince’s Death

When news of Prince’s passing hit, it touched many worlds far and wide. The iconic musician’s death has brought a mix of emotions: shock is a common reaction, as well as sadness, and an outpouring of respect and admiration. And while these sentiments have already been shared extensively via words on every form of social media imaginable, one Twitter user managed to capture a pure physical reaction to the musician’s death.

Twitter user @shvrdae shared the reaction of her teacher as he watched a clip of Prince performing “Purple Rain” on YouTube. The clip is short; only 10 seconds long, but it’s equal parts heartwarming and indicative of how a lot people feel. As the teacher removes his glasses and his head falls into his hands, all I could think of was, “Yeah, me too, man.” I kind of feel that not knowing where this clip takes place makes for even more of an impact; it makes this mysterious teacher even more of an everyman.

I’m not totally sure what performance of “Purple Rain” he’s watching, but I’m also not sure it matters. The song could always hit home, regardless of when Prince performed. A version of him debuting a longer version of the song from 1983 is particularly moving.