EPISODE 329: AVE

Remember when she sang at the Inauguration?

Or at the Kennedy Center honors for Carole King? (If you have not seen it, prepare yourself. It's so devastatingly iconic that the New York Times did a piece just on how it came together.)

Or Precious Lord, which she sang at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, and then in honor of that day in 2011?

I don't listen to a lot of religious music. But this has always hit me so hard.

And then there's Nessun Dorma, which she sang for the first time at the 1988 Grammys because Pavarotti was sick, supposedly on 20 minutes notice. It was such an unbelievable performance, as one commenter wrote (in what I nominate for pop culture reference of the year), afterwards every other rendition "started fading away like your faves the end of Avengers: Infinity War."

The LA Times did this piece on how it came together. She sang it for the Pope in Philadelphia.

The lady also threw amazing shade. I mean, amazing. So amazing. REALLY, really amazing.

Even in death, she apparently stole the show.

The Obamas put out this comment today.

For me, the life of Aretha Franklin is about letting it all out. Trusting that who you are and what you have to share is something beautiful and special and just plain incredible, and witnessing how when you take that risk, that crazy, crazy risk, it makes our whole world so much more human.

There's a lot more going on this week (...). But only a fool tries to follow the Queen of Soul.

Stay strong. Trust yourself. Sing your song. It's gorgeous. (And we need it.)

POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW