Ms. Aretha Franklin appeared on Late Night the other night to promote her new album, The Great Diva Classics, and sang her version of Adele‘s “Rolling in the Deep.” From what I’ve read, her performance was well-received. I wasn’t super impressed, I expected her to eviscerate the song, but instead she kinda sounded like she was struggling. Anyways, as I watched the clip, I noticed one of her backup singers was obviously not rehearsed. So I watched it again. OHMYGOD!!! The background singer was actually Cissy Houston!! Houston was Whitney‘s mother, yes, but she is also a career vocalist and the founder of the original Sweet Inspirations (a vocal group that sang backup on 10 years of Atlantic label sides)! Stilll, Ms. Houston seemed quite indifferent to Aretha’s performance as she, perhaps, was reading her lines off a teleprompter? She first raises her eyebrows when Aretha goes for a high note at :39, but then really gets fed up at about the 1:20 mark—just watch as SHE ROLLS HER FUCKING EYES!!
As the song progresses, it’s clear she has no idea what to sing, but I can’t tell if she was rolling her eyes at Aretha’s shaky vocal or that she was completely lost. Had this been any other performance, like in a theater, no one would have noticed. But here we’re up close, and it’s reviewable footage, so Ms. Houston’s frustration is impossible to miss! Next time I reckon they’ll remember to put late additions on the OTHER side of the backline!