Songstress Erykah Badu has never been too shy to say what’s on her mind. The “Next Lifetime” singer recently shot her shot at actor John Boyega during the Atlanta stop on her #UnfollowMeTour. In a recent Instagram video shared by Netflix’s Strong Black Lead account, the singer expresses her love for the Star Wars star, Boyega, and her interest in meeting him. She prompted the band to stop the music to speak directly to the audience during her set. She asked, “Have you ever seen a movie called Star Wars? It’s a Black dude in that thang; his name is John Boyega. If anybody else sees John Boyega, tell him I said hi.”
Badu continued, “There’s a lot of people in the audience, that’s why I wanted to say that. Cause it’s enough of ya’ll in here to get the message to that man. John Boyega is fine!”
She then asked the audience how old the actor was and became pleased by their response. “He’s under 30? Hell yeah! That’s what I’m looking for.”
After her statements to the crowd, she began singing her most known hit, “Tyrone.” During her performance, Boyega popped onto the stage, leaving Badu speechless, and the actor quickly gave her a warm embrace, delighting their fans. Despite fan girling and being attracted to the actor, Badu does have a connection with Boyega, as she recently re-recorded her hit song, “Tyrone,” for his Netflix film, They Cloned Tyrone, per a request from the film’s director Juel Taylor.
During a recent interview with Netflix, Badu shared her process for remaking the song. “I only changed a few things around, but I had to sing the whole song and sing the whole song exactly how I sang it when I was 27,” Badu said. “I had to make my voice sound just like that so that people wouldn’t detect. You really have to listen to hear the words that are changed before it gets to the hook where it’s a little bit more obvious.”
The difference in the lyrics is most apparent during the track’s chorus, which says, “somebody cloned Tyrone” instead of “you better call Tyrone.” Nonetheless, we loved seeing Badu and Boyega cozy on stage and hope to see more fun moments from them soon.
They Cloned Tyrone is now playing in select theaters and streaming on Netflix.