Adele wanted her performance of "Fastlove" during the George Michael tribute at Sunday's Grammy Awards to be perfect. So when it wasn't, she cursed, then started over on live TV.
"I'm sorry. I can't mess this up for him," she said to the audience. "Can we start again?"
The second performance was flawless and heartfelt, as images of the late singer, who died on Christmas Day at age 53, played on the screen behind her.
Adele looked near tears as she finished, as the crowd received the performance with a standing ovation.
Later, when she won the award for song of the year for "Hello," Adele apologized again.
"I really do apologize for swearing," she said. "George Michael, I love him. He means a lot to me. I'm sorry if I offended anyone."
Her expletive was bleeped on the CBS broadcast.
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Adele opened the ceremony by performing the Grammy-winning megahit without a hitch.
But she suffered from poor sound when she performed her song "All I Ask" at last year's Grammy ceremony. A microphone had fallen inside the piano used onstage, which made it sound out of tune. A Grammy spokeswoman said, however, there were no technical issues with Adele's performances on Sunday, though.
Stars on Twitter were vocal with their support. Bette Midler wrote, "Adele taught us all a great lesson just now. If it's not right? START OVER AND NAIL IT! And she did. Love you, girl."
Metallica also suffered sound problems Sunday. Guitarist James Hetfield's microphone appeared to not function during half of the band's performance with Lady Gaga.
