Madonna’s daughter Mercy James just turned 18 years old in style.
On Monday, the singer and mother of six paused her concert at Madison Square Garden in New York to celebrate her daughter. The megastar led the crowd of attendees and her fellow performers on stage in singing “Happy Birthday” to James.
“Stand up, beautiful girl,” Madonna said to her daughter when the song wrapped, according to a video uploaded to social media by People magazine. “Look at this queen!”
“That’s what a beautiful queen looks like,” she added before James was handed a candle to make a birthday wish.
The celebration didn’t end there. Madonna also uploaded an intimate video montage of the teenager’s life to Instagram. In the video, which opens with a clip of James playing the piano, images span from when the teen was a toddler newly adopted from Malawi all the way to joining her mother on stage during her current world tour. The video closes with James joyfully announcing her birthday and blowing a kiss to the camera.
“Beautiful Chfifundo James! You’re 18 [years] old today,” Madonna, 65, wrote in the post’s lengthy caption.
She continued, “You were always the quiet one[.] The gentle one. The Shy and Stoic one.”
“Always Humble and Kind,” she added. “Beautiful Mercy James, I am really astounded by the woman you have become. Poised and radiant. Skilled and Soulful. A True artist.”
Madonna also praised her daughter for performing Chopin each night during her world tour.
“To hear you play Chopin every night in my show with such confidence is such a thrill,” she wrote.
Madonna’s “Celebration Tour” opened in October with appearances from several of her children, including James, her 11-year-old twin daughter Estere, who made headlines for voguing onstage, and her eldest daughter, 27-year-old Lourdes Leon.
In the caption of her birthday tribute to James, Madonna said “nothing” gave her greater pleasure than to watch her middle daughter grow.
“Wishing You the happiest of Birthdays! The happiest of everything— because you deserve it,” she declared. “Even though we both hate shellfish, the world is your Oyster!! She is waiting for you to devour it. To eat it whole!!! To Slay it!!”
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