Madonna Finally Melted Elton John’s Cold Heart
More than 20 years ago, Elton John called Madonna out for lip-syncing in her performances. So when Madonna decided to finally squash their beef, she had to do it live. At Saturday Night Live, in fact. The Queen of Pop surprised John backstage over the weekend, when he served as musical guest with Brandi Carlile. Madonna shared on Instagram that she “needed to go backstage and confront him” because his criticism “hurt” her. Luckily, it went over well: “When I met him, the first thing out of his mouth was, ‘Forgive Me’ and the wall between us fell down,” Madonna wrote. “Forgiveness is a powerful tool. Within minutes. We were hugging.” She even posted a photo as awkward proof.
This pop beef actually goes back to 2002 — and for once, John definitely started it by saying Madonna’s Bond theme, “Die Another Day,” was “the worst Bond tune ever.” But the defining moment was during John’s acceptance speech for Classic Songwriter at the 2004 Q Awards, when he took a shot at Madonna, who’d been up for Best Live Act. “Since when has lip-syncing been live?” he said. “Sorry about that, but I think everyone who lip-syncs on stage in public, when you pay like 75 quid to see them, should be shot. Thank you very much.” John’s comments even prompted a response from Madonna’s publicist, stating, “Madonna does not lip-sync nor does she spend her time trashing other artists.” Their beef got reheated in early 2012, when Madonna won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song after John; shortly after, as she prepped for her Super Bowl halftime show, he told her to “lip-sync good.” After John called her “a fucking fairground stripper” later that year, Madonna dedicated a performance of her Globe-winning song “Masterpiece” to John, shadily declaring, “I forgive him.”
This time, more than 12 years later, she did for real. And as with all the best pop-beef resolutions, this might even lead to them hitting the studio together: “Then he told me had written a song for me and he wanted to collaborate,” Madonna added. “It was like everything came full circle!!” Now John will even get to see Madonna sing live.
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