14 DAY TRIAL // No one can throw shade as wonderfully as the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin does. That’s not a statement open to debate, it’s a fact. The diva has a decades-long successful career and a voice like no other in showbiz, but more to the point right now, she seems to have perfected the art of shading.
The fact that Mrs. Franklin is now at a point in her career where she no longer has to play nice with anyone because no amount of stepping on toes could possibly hurt her must have helped with that.
A few words on other famous pop stars
The other day, Mrs. Franklin sat down for an interview with WSJ Live, to promote her brand new album of covers, which holds the record of being her biggest seller so far. You will find the entire interview embedded below, but the bit we’re talking about is at the 3:55-minute mark.
Speaking of how she chose the songs she would later record for the album (credits go to music mogul Clive Davis, she says), the interviewer asks Aretha to say a few words about other famous pop stars. The bit is almost like an association game, in which one player says one word and the other the first thing that comes to mind in relation to it.
But Aretha is not playing around. She says Adele, whose “Rolling in the Deep” she covers, is a “young singer, good singer,” she describes Alicia Keys as a “young performer, writer, producer,” and she speaks of the late Whitney Houston as of a great “talent” who was totally her mother’s daughter. Cissy Houston has been singing backup for Aretha for many years, by the way.
And now for the shade throwing: of Taylor Swift, Aretha only says “great gowns, beautiful gowns,” as if the young artist had never sang a song in her life. Before you jump to Taylor’s defense, perhaps you should know that rapper Nicki Minaj had it much worse, with the diva saying only, “Hmm… Now I’m going to pass on that one.”
Shading or no shading, there’s no denying the figures
So Aretha Franklin doesn’t give a rat’s you-know-what about Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj, but there are millions out there who would disagree with her. As it happens, perhaps more so than Alicia Keys and Adele, these two stars are incredibly popular.
Taylor has just released her brand new, entirely pop album, and it's bested even the most optimistic expectations in its first week. Right now, she is one of the highest female earners in showbiz.
Minaj, on the other hand, is preparing for the release of a new studio material, for which she has invented a brand new persona. She may be raunchy and offensive, but she’s also very versatile, and the public seems to resonate to that.
Again, this isn’t to say that popularity equals worth: just that Aretha Franklin, like every one of us, is entitled to her opinion. At the same time though, she deserves credit for throwing shade like the pro that she is.
Perhaps not the same can be said about the divas in the gallery below.
