Super Bowl halftime shows are occasionally the center of controversy, and this year’s show was no exception. People may have had their halftime show “Purple Rain”-ed on as a hologram of the late Prince joined Justin Timberlake on stage.
This sparked controversy, as Prince was adamantly against holograms during his lifetime. When asked if he would ever want to do a digital jam session with a dead artist in an interview with Guitar World in 1998, Prince responded, “Certainly not. That’s the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing… it really is demonic. And I am not a demon.”
Prince said he did not want to do it at a time where technology was much different than it is today, and a lot has changed in 10 years. The halftime show also featured the illuminated Prince logo on the snow outside the stadium, so the gesture was obviously meant to be a tribute.
Even if Prince did not like the concept of holograms, it is not as if this performance features a new Prince song, the projection of the singer performed an old and known song, “I Would Die For U.” Think about all the dead artists who can be found in music videos, all you really have to do is put a projection of them onto a two-dimensional surface.
Regardless of what Prince thought about holograms, which in his case it probably should not have been used, technology gives us the great opportunity to have concerts for artists who died too young or are legends, and it would be great to have as performers.
One of the most tragic deaths of an artist is Elvis Presley who was the king of rock ‘n’ roll. According to Elvis’s website, he had a concert tour in England where they used video of him performing.
Imagine the other artists you could see in concert: the late George Jones, Whitney Houston, certain members of the Beatles, and they have already created holograms for Tupac and Michael Jackson.
As far as artistic control, it would be good to set parameters on what can be used as a hologram, or other ways of projecting the artists, such as only being allowed to use live concert footage and not splicings of songs to make a whole new performance.
Music is one of the few forms of art where one is connected to the artist because the artist’s voice is there. Technological advancements are a way one can hear someone’s voice, even though the person was not necessarily there. Because of this technology, people are still able to appreciate the music which could have been lost forever with the death of artists.
If holograms allow us to appreciate an artist’s work, as well as let us experience the artist’s music like they were still here, it is definitely something which should be explored. Technology is always advancing, and it is not necessarily a bad thing.