Last week saw the tragic passing of Aretha Franklin at 76 years of age. Understandably, today’s MTV Video Music Awards saw musicians paying tribute to the soul legend for her contributions to the world of music. However, Madonna’s tribute to the singer has been met with plenty of criticism for its rather self-centred nature.

Taking to the stage to present the Video Of The Year Award (it went to Camila Cabello, in case you were wondering), Madonna soon launched into a lengthy speech about the impact that the soul singer had on her own career, as Rolling Stone reports.

“Aretha Louise Franklin changed the course of my life,” Madonna began. “I left Detroit when I was 18. Thirty-five dollars in my pocket. My dream was to make it as a professional dancer. After years of struggling and being broke, I decided to go to auditions for musical theatre – I heard the pay was better.”

“I had no training or dreams of ever becoming a singer but I went for it,” she continued. “I got cut and rejected from every audition; not tall enough, not blend-in enough, not twelve-octave range enough, not pretty enough. Not enough enough.”

“And then one day a French disco sensation was looking for backup singers and dancers for his world tour. I thought, ‘Why not? The worst that can happen is I can go back to getting robbed, held at gunpoint and being mistaken for a prostitute in my third floor walkup that was also a crackhouse.”

“So I showed up for the audition and two very large French record producers sat in the empty theatre, daring me to be amazing,” she recalled. “The dance audition went well. Then they asked me if I had sheet music and a song prepared. I panicked. I had overlooked this important part of the audition process.”

“I had to think fast, my next meal was on the line. Fortunately one of my favourite albums was Lady Soul by Aretha Franklin. I blurted out ‘You Make Me Feel’. Silence. ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’. Two French guys nodded at me. I said, ‘You know, by Aretha Franklin.’”

“They looked over at the pianist, he shook his head. ‘I don’t need sheet music,’ I said, ‘I know every word. I know the song by heart, I will sing it a cappella.’ I could see that they did not take me seriously, and why should they? Some skinny ass white girl is going to come up here and belt out a song by one of the greatest soul singers that ever lived?”

“I said, ‘Bitch, I’m Madonna.’ No, I didn’t, I didn’t say that. ‘Cause I wasn’t Madonna yet. I don’t know who I was. I don’t know what I said, I don’t know what came over me.”

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“So you’re probably all wondering why I’m telling you this story,” she concluded. “There’s a connection, because none of this would’ve happened – could’ve happened – without our lady of soul.”

“She led me to where I am today and I know she influenced so many people in this house tonight, in this room tonight, and I want to thank you, Aretha, for empowering all of us. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Long live the queen.”

Understandably, Twitter users went on a rampage, ripping into Madonna for her tribute to the soul icon.

https://twitter.com/youngsinick/status/1031744328350277632

Madonna’s rambling tribute comes just a matter of days after the musician revealed that she believes all all modern music “sounds the same”.

Having recently moved to Lisbon, where her twelve-year-old son David Banda hopes to follow his dreams of becoming a professional soccer player, Madonna noted how the change of scenery has left her feeling inspired when it comes to her music.

“It’s also such a nice antidote to what’s going on in the music business now where everything’s so formulaic, and every song has 20 guest artists on it, and everyone sounds the same,” she explained. “Something’s gotta give.”

While Madonna is yet to respond to the criticism about her speech, we can definitely say it’s going to go down in history as one of the more intriguing tributes in music history.

Check out Aretha Franklin’s cover of ‘Respect’:

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