The New Google Doodle Is Prince-Inspired

It has been a difficult day for music lovers everywhere. On Thursday, Prince's publicist confirmed that the singer had died in his home in Minnesota, after being hospitalized for the flu only one week prior. The loss of the "When Doves Cry" singer has hit fans of the artist hard, including some famous ones, like Lorde, Shonda Rhimes, and Olivia Wilde, who all paid their respects to the music icon via Twitter. Now, it's more than just individuals paying tribute to the artist — Google has taken a big step to honor Prince. The search engine has changed its famous logo to honor the "Purple Rain" singer, and it's just one more reminder of how much this musical icon will be missed.

Instead of creating a design that incorporated the singer's image, Google decided to have their logo remind fans of one of his most iconic songs. The theme for the Google logo — often referred to as the "Google doodle" — is, quite literally, "purple rain," and is clearly inspired by Prince's art. "Purple Rain" is the title of one of Prince's most well-known tracks and albums, and is also the title of the rock musical film that is inspired by said album. The Google logo interpreted this by having literal purple rain fall over the "Google" lettering, which, as of Thursday, is also purple.

Google isn't the only company paying tribute to the late music icon. Snapchat has added a Prince-inspired filter into their collection, which also embodies the purple rain theme. It's a simple, but effective way to show respect for an artist whom so many fans are mourning. Though Twitter and Instagram have not yet released their own individual tributes to the singer, fans have taken to posting many self-made tribute photos and videos that honor the artist.

Google's Prince-inspired doodle is just one way to show that the world is mourning the loss of this great talent, and in the weeks that follow his death, it can only be assumed that more tributes to Prince will pop off on and offline.

Image: Kaitlin Reilly/Google