NEW YORK 鈥� The Tony Awards could bring Cynthia Erivo another Emmy.
Days after the British performer belted Aretha Franklin鈥檚 鈥淎in鈥檛 No Way鈥� during a red carpet interview at the 2019 Tonys 鈥� explaining that it鈥檚 her guilty pleasure song 鈥� she got a call from the producers of the National Geographic series 鈥淕enius: Aretha.鈥�
鈥淚 was like, 鈥業 beg your pardon,鈥欌�� she continued. 鈥淚n my head I鈥檓 like, 鈥楾here is another film happening and I鈥檓 excited to see that, so what is this?鈥欌��
NatGeo had already completed series on Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, and wanted to focus on the life of Franklin, who died 2018 and was arguably the greatest singer of all time.
When Erivo, 34, went to meet with the producers, she had a bit of an epiphany.
鈥淣othing else was playing in the hotel, it was just mood music,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ll of a sudden 鈥楧ay Dreaming鈥� comes on as I go to sit down. I鈥檓 like, 鈥楢m I the only one that noticed that?鈥欌��
Laughing with a huge smile on her face, she continued: 鈥淚 was like, 鈥楨ither you planned that or someone鈥檚 trying to tell me something.鈥欌�欌��
Fast forward two years and Erivo is playing the Queen of Soul in the eight-episode series debuting March 21. 鈥淩espect,鈥� a film about Franklin starring Jennifer Hudson, will be released in August.
In an interview with The Associated Press, edited for clarity and brevity, the Tony, Emmy and Grammy winner talked about meeting Franklin, playing icons on-screen and more.
AP: What does Aretha mean to you?
ERIVO: She means the world to me. As a singer, I truly believe that my job is to communicate and tell the stories that sometimes are difficult for people to tell for themselves ... Aretha did that with her eyes closed. She had a wonderful way of communicating the things that she had been through, through song.
AP: She has this thing by which she can take someone else鈥檚 song and make it her own.
ERIVO: Totally and it鈥檚 such a special thing. Not only does she take the song and make it her own, she takes the song and you forget it was someone else鈥檚. That to me, it鈥檚 a really special thing that she was able to do. I don鈥檛 know that people realize that 鈥淩espect鈥� wasn鈥檛 her song first.
She finds messaging in songs, in music that you didn鈥檛 realize were there in the first place. I don鈥檛 know how, but she always managed to find a way into a song that you didn鈥檛 know existed. I know that this might not be a popular opinion but when she did her version of (Adele鈥檚) 鈥淩olling in the Deep,鈥� I was like, 鈥淗uh, never heard this song like this before. Didn鈥檛 think about this song like this before.鈥� At that point because she was an older woman singing this song, you鈥檙e like, all the experience that this person must have gone through to get to this point, I didn鈥檛 hear this before. Now I鈥檓 hearing it with her voice. She was one of a kind, truly.
AP: Did you get a chance to meet her?
ERIVO: I met her the first time when she鈥檇 come to a performance of 鈥淭he Color Purple.鈥� I didn鈥檛 know she was there. When I saw her, I felt like an idiot because I was just in shock. There is Miss Aretha Franklin standing in front of me and I鈥檝e just finished singing a show in her presence, oh my goodness. How do I do this? She was funny and lovely. She sang the last line of 鈥淚鈥檓 Here鈥� back to me. That was a moment I had to put my heart back together. I was like, 鈥淭his is happening for real.鈥� She was wonderful. When you meet someone like that, you don鈥檛 think they鈥檒l remember your face. I met her again at the Kennedy Center Honors. I was singing the very first time I did it. She remembered me. She said, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e the girl who was in that play. You can sing. You can sing.鈥� I was like, 鈥淵es that鈥檚 me. Thank you very much.鈥� I remember she was wearing red. My
AP: How do you feel about the people who say, 鈥淐ynthia doesn鈥檛 really look like Aretha?鈥�
ERIVO: No, in the same way that Diana Ross didn鈥檛 really look like Billie Holiday, but she did an incredible, incredible job when she did 鈥淟ady Sings the Blues.鈥� ... I don鈥檛 think anyone does look like Aretha. If you found someone who looks like Aretha who couldn鈥檛 do the work, who can鈥檛 sing the songs, then that鈥檚 where you have a problem. I鈥檇 rather someone that doesn鈥檛 look like her but can give me the essence.
AP: Are you excited to see the Jennifer Hudson version?
ERIVO: I am. I know that they were close, and I know that they had a conversation. This is something she had been dreaming of doing. I am excited to see it.
AP: How鈥檚 it been playing real-life icons on-screen?
ERIVO: It鈥檚 a huge
Mesfin Fekadu, The Associated Press
