"What on earth is this?": David Bowie fans livid after Zendaya, Willow Smith and Kiernan Shipka sing 'Changes'

Zendaya, Willow Smith, & Kiernan Shipka paid a tribute to Bowie (Images via W Magazine and Getty)
Zendaya, Willow Smith, & Kiernan Shipka paid a tribute to Bowie (Images via W Magazine and Getty)

To mark the 75th birthday of David Bowie, W Magazine shared a video of Zendaya, Willow Smith, and Kiernan Shipka performing a rendition of Changes, a classic hit by the late singer, on Instagram.

The video, directed by Lynn Hirschberg, has caused quite a stir on social media platforms as Bowie fans have called it out as 'cringe worthy and disrespectful' for the trio's questionable knowledge of the song.


How David Bowie fans reacted to the video

The trio were seen partially reading and singing the 1972 hit by David Bowie, in the video that was captioned:

"In honor of what would have been #DavidBowie’s 75th birthday, watch as the stars deliver a heartfelt rendition of the legendary rocker’s hit song."

Enraged by the video, one die-hard fan of the legend commented:

“This is so insulting to David Bowie, on his birthday of all days."
Comment by @dalia_bh on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @dalia_bh on W Magazine's Instagram post

Another David Bowie fan called the rendition "blasphemous,":

Comment by @wutheringnellie on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @wutheringnellie on W Magazine's Instagram post

One Instagram user mentioned that Bowie would not have appreciated seeing this if he was still around:

Comment by @firouzzeh on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @firouzzeh on W Magazine's Instagram post

Another David Bowie fan who regretted watching the video wrote:

Comment by @v00kie on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @v00kie on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @tammyjaqueline on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @tammyjaqueline on W Magazine's Instagram post

One person believed that the trio delivered anything but a performance, as they said:

Comment by @gingercarnage on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @gingercarnage on W Magazine's Instagram post

One user questioned the trio's knowledge of the David Bowie song, with a shush face emoji at the end:

Comment by @l.p____________ on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @l.p____________ on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @julesp55 on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @julesp55 on W Magazine's Instagram post

Another person on Instagram, questioning the caption of the video, commented:

Comment by @mariabarnard on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @mariabarnard on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @spiritualbeingstar on W Magazine's Instagram post
Comment by @spiritualbeingstar on W Magazine's Instagram post

In the comments section full of disapproving fans, only a few praised the girls for their tribute that had no intentions of "insulting" the legendary singer in any way.

The video was compared to Gal Gadot's infamous clip of celebrities singing John Lennon's Imagine, which was released amidst the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

Later, in an interview with InStyle, Gal Gadot stated that the video, which received a huge amount of criticism immediately after it dropped, was in "poor taste".

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