Sheila E. Deserves All the Recognition in the World & Gets It at the Mall of All Places

Here’s the thing about Sheila E.: she is the coolest and always has been. She drummed for Prince! She is behind many hit songs like The Glamorous Life. She did not, however, inspire the hit non-Prince song Oh Sheila, which was news to me when I was researching the article because up until 5 minutes ago I always thought she had.

Sheila E. is fantastic, a national treasure, and this is something that obviously celebrated as an empirical fact because she recently received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last month and was honored at the ceremony by guest speakers and fellow legendary drummer Ringo Starr, and by musician H.E.R. She’s a legend! It’s good to see she’s getting the recognition she so richly deserves.

It is with that in mind that I share the following social media post from Ms. E. herself, which made my entire week and melted my icy cold heart:

In the video, Sheila E. is at the mall and hears someone loudly playing The Glamorous Life and declares they have no idea that they’re playing the song near her and won’t recognize her. Much to her surprise, the man walks by and casually says to her as he walks by, “What’s up Sheila E.?” and a look of delighted shock spreads across her face.

What’s even more impressive is that the man came up from behind her, so couldn’t even get a good look at her until he was next to her, greeting her. It’s truly delightful. I’m not the only one who thinks so, either. Just check out some of these reactions from Twitter. (We’re all refusing to call it “X” just because some billionaire decreed it so, right?!)

Faith in humanity = restored.

They are right, this is very wholesome:

I also very much appreciated he did not linger or ask her for anything, just acknowledged her and moved along:

It’s so rare that someone gets to be celebrated in the wild like that. Personally, I’ve never accomplished anything of note like Ms. E., but I can only imagine how touching it is to not only hear something you created played joyously 39 years after it was released but to be recognized as the artist behind it as well. Then, as a special treat for us all, the entire situation is captured on video and shared on social media. To paraphrase the immortal words of Marge Simpson, I just think it’s neat!

(featured image: Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)