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The Aretha Franklin Thread


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The entertainment industry has a habit of telling Black entertainers that "there can only be one" and then act shocked when artists get competitive.  As women, they also play on any insecurities that anyone might have.  Aretha wasn't perfect, and I'm sure she was not immune.   Her ex-husband, in declaring that he loved her dearly, cited that she was stubborn and tenacious--qualities that surely secured her longevity but likely didn't always endear her to people.  Artists are not always easy people.  From personal experience, if you're easy and too nice as a woman and artist-- people take advantage of you. I found this out the hard way.  No doubt, Franklin developed a tough exterior and maybe wore that armor even when it wasn't necessary. 

She was an incredibly talented, flawed human.

  

I love both Aretha and Tina and that's not one of the finer moments for the Queen of Soul but let's not pretend that's the worst thing for a singer to do in the industry. Not when we have music producers still sexually assaulting artists without their careers missing a beat.

 

Tina Turner just lost her son about a month ago.  If you were to ask her how high that feud ranked in her list of life's hurts, I'm going to guess a slight from Aretha Franklin would be at the very bottom of her list.

 

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You touched two of my ultimate favorites. Songs in the Key of Life and Angel. Her sister was a talented singer as well and had some moderate success. The song wasn't intended for Aretha but for Carolyn. Story is as soon as it was finished, Carolyn knew it was her sisters song and the rest is history.

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I should really dig more into Carolyn’s work. I’ll save some albums on Spotify. 

 

I’m holding onto Stevie for dear life. At the end of 2016, which we all remember as such of rough year for legends, Slate.com decided to do a weeklong series of articles to appreciate an iconic older artist while they are still here, and they chose Stevie Wonder as the subject. 

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/wonder_week.html

 

Pitchfork did one of their recent weekly reviews on Aretha’s Spirit in the Dark, and their article is filled with some cool insights and biographical details that were new to me.

 

 

 

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