#Roommates, Beyoncé opened Kobe Bryant’s memorial service with what she said was “one of his favorite songs.” That song was “XO,” which she initially began and restarted to encourage the crowd to sing along.
Since the performers and speakers at Kobe Bryant’s memorial were not released to the public ahead of time, fans didn’t know what to expect. However, they likely got a huge surprise when Beyoncé opened the memorial performing her songs “XO” and “Halo.”
Before she went into singing the song, she commented on Kobe, saying “I am here because I love Kobe. And this was one of his favorite songs.”
She wore a gold pantsuit and accented with purple fingernails and a purple ring, signaling the colors of Kobe’s life-long team, the Los Angeles Lakers. During her performance, there were numerous shots of Kobe’s widow Vanessa Bryant who appeared to be visibly moved by Beyoncé’s performance.
If you’ll recall, Kobe has a long history with Beyoncé, as he appeared in the video for Destiny’s Child’s 1999 song, “Bug A Boo.”
Last year, he spoke about their relationship, saying:
“I had known Beyoncé and Kelly [Rowland] for a long time. Our careers were kind of parallel tracking. I was just starting to try to come into my own, they were doing the same thing. We were kind of ascending at the same time.”
We want to continue to send our intense prayers and thoughts to Vanessa Bryant and her family during this extremely difficult time.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?