Ty Dolla $ign Reveals Tears Behind Mac Miller’s “Cinderella” Performances

Ty Dolla $ign opened up about the tears he shed onstage while singing “Cinderella,” the song he made with his late friend Mac Miller.

In a Billboard interview published Tuesday, the singer said he closed his sets on Bryson Tiller’s “The Neo Trapsoul Tour” with the song. He said the crowd cheered while he was crying.

“Every time I’ve performed it the last four or five times, it folds me inside. Mac was one of my good boys,” he said.

Ty recalled that his daughter first saw him cry at Miller’s Greek Theatre tribute concert. He said the same grief returned at Tiny Desk and during his recent shows.

“Cinderella” had given Ty and Miller plenty of room to work together. Their eight-minute collaboration appeared on Miller’s 2016 album “The Divine Feminine,” a record built around love and intimacy.

The pair’s “Cinderella” video arrived in April 2017, extending the life of a song released the previous September.

The Greek Theatre benefit in Los Angeles took place on October 31, 2018, weeks after Miller died at 26. His friends gathered to honor both his music and the bonds he built through it.

Chance the Rapper thanked him for the opportunities and friendships he gave others, while SZA credited him with helping her career. Travis Scott closed his performance by urging fans to tell their friends they loved them.

The Tiny Desk tribute grew out of another shared memory.

After Ty finished taping his own concert in 2019, NPR producer Bobby Carter reminded him that Miller had played behind the same desk nearly a year earlier.

That prompted Ty and his band to talk briefly before they played “Cinderella.”

The session reunited two musicians from Miller’s own Tiny Desk set: bassist Thundercat and guitarist Justus West. They joined Ty for a tribute that NPR released on August 8, 2019, the first anniversary of Miller’s Tiny Desk release.

Producer DJ Dahi also told Billboard that the team debated shortening Ty’s hook for radio, then kept it intact. He said the song had been Miller’s favorite on the album.

Director Bo Mirhosseni recalled Miller’s support: When the video’s budget ran out, the rapper paid to finish it.