Los Angeles — Adele wanted her performance of Fastlove during the George Michael tribute at Sunday's Grammy Awards to be perfect. So when it wasn't, she cursed, then started over on live TV.
"I'm sorry. I can't mess this up for him," she said to the audience. "Can we start again?"
The second performance was flawless and heartfelt, as images of the late singer, who died on Christmas Day at age 53, played on the screen behind her.
Watch it here:
Adele's tribute to George Michael at the #GRAMMYs 2017. pic.twitter.com/uDHL4wDyqf
— Wolé II (@Kingwole) February 13, 2017
Adele looked near tears as she finished, as the crowd received the performance with a standing ovation.
Later, when she won the award for song of the year for Hello, Adele apologised again.
"I really do apologise for swearing," she said. "George Michael, I love him. He means a lot to me. I'm sorry if I offended anyone."
Her expletive was bleeped on the CBS broadcast.
Adele opened the ceremony by performing the Grammy-winning megahit without a hitch.
Watch it here:
#LIVE Découvrez sans plus attendre la prestation d'@Adele sur "Hello" ! Un seul mot : sublime (comme d'habitude) #GRAMMYs ?? ?? pic.twitter.com/fy9DcGN4mV
— Adele France (@AdeleSourceFR) February 13, 2017
But she suffered from poor sound when she performed her song All I Ask at last year's Grammy ceremony. A microphone had fallen inside the piano used on stage, which made it sound out of tune. A Grammy spokeswoman said, however, there were no technical issues with Adele's performances on Sunday, though. (Read more here)
Stars on Twitter were vocal with their support. Bette Midler wrote, "Adele taught us all a great lesson just now. If it's not right? START OVER AND NAIL IT! And she did. Love you, girl."
#Adele taught us a all a great lesson just now. If it's not right? START OVER AND NAIL IT! And she did. Love you, girl.
— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) February 13, 2017
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