WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.720 Picture this. It's 1998. You are backstage at 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:06.679 the Grammy Awards. Oh, man. the tension in that 00:00:06.679 --> 00:00:09.699 room. Right. The show is broadcasting live to, 00:00:09.699 --> 00:00:12.859 like, an audience of over a billion people worldwide, 00:00:12.980 --> 00:00:15.960 and suddenly the producers are in just absolute 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:19.019 sheer panic. Because Luciano Pavarotti just bailed. 00:00:19.100 --> 00:00:22.100 Exactly. Luciano Pavarotti, the legendary larger 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:24.179 -than -life opera tenor, is scheduled to perform 00:00:24.179 --> 00:00:28.300 the impossibly complex Italian aria Nessun Dorma, 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:30.640 but he's just fallen completely ill. Yeah, and 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:32.700 the show has already begun. Literally already 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:35.840 underway. There is a massive gaping hole in the 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:38.159 biggest musical broadcast on earth. And they 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:42.020 need someone to step in, on zero notice, to sing 00:00:42.020 --> 00:00:44.380 a classical tenor aria. Which is just, I mean, 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:46.079 it's the ultimate live television nightmare. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:47.880 You don't just, you know, improvise Italian opera? 00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:49.960 You really don't. But the producers, they run 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:51.659 up to an R &B singer who happens to be in the 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:53.759 building. She listens to Pavarotti's rehearsal 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:57.439 tape, like once or twice. She nods. agrees to 00:00:57.439 --> 00:00:59.299 sing it in his original tenor range with the 00:00:59.299 --> 00:01:02.359 orchestra, walks out onto the stage, and delivers 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:05.819 a performance so staggeringly flawless that the 00:01:05.819 --> 00:01:08.959 entire building erupts into a standing ovation. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:12.239 It's just unbelievable. It really is. So welcome 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:15.079 to today's Deep Dive. We are exploring the life, 00:01:15.459 --> 00:01:18.140 the mechanics, and the absolute genius of the 00:01:18.140 --> 00:01:20.420 Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. And you know, 00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:22.980 our mission today is to really get past the basic 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:25.819 timeline you might already know. We are unpacking 00:01:25.819 --> 00:01:29.159 the how. the mechanics of it all. Exactly. How 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:31.780 does a child prodigy forged in an environment 00:01:31.780 --> 00:01:35.340 of just unimaginable trauma, managed to synthesize 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:38.439 the architecture of gospel blues and pop into 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:40.659 the defining voice of the American experience. 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:42.879 Because she didn't just sing songs, right? No, 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:45.340 not at all. She dismantled them and rebuilt them 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:47.739 in her own image. She had this incredible vocal 00:01:47.739 --> 00:01:50.620 flexibility, brilliant piano skills and a deep 00:01:50.620 --> 00:01:52.680 emotional intelligence. So if you've ever been 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:55.560 fascinated by how true once in a century mastery 00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:57.900 is achieved, the kind of mastery that completely 00:01:57.900 --> 00:02:01.019 defies standard logic, this deep dive is definitely 00:02:01.019 --> 00:02:03.909 for you. Absolutely. We are looking at a life 00:02:03.909 --> 00:02:07.530 defined by intense resilience, constant reinvention, 00:02:08.129 --> 00:02:11.870 and a really fierce uncompromising demand for 00:02:11.870 --> 00:02:14.310 autonomy. But to understand how she literally 00:02:14.310 --> 00:02:17.189 altered the DNA of American music, we have to 00:02:17.189 --> 00:02:19.689 start at the absolute foundation. We really have 00:02:19.689 --> 00:02:22.289 to look at the crucible of her childhood in Detroit. 00:02:22.710 --> 00:02:24.389 Right, because Detroit is where the blueprint 00:02:24.389 --> 00:02:26.569 for everything she became was drawn. I mean, 00:02:26.590 --> 00:02:28.270 she was born in Memphis, but Detroit was where 00:02:28.270 --> 00:02:30.490 she really came of age. And her family dynamic 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:34.050 was intense. Very. Her father, C .L. Franklin, 00:02:34.289 --> 00:02:36.210 was the prominent Baptist minister at the New 00:02:36.210 --> 00:02:39.370 Bethel Baptist Church. And he wasn't just like... 00:02:39.310 --> 00:02:41.629 a local preacher. He was a superstar in his own 00:02:41.629 --> 00:02:44.569 right. He really was. He was famously known nationwide 00:02:44.569 --> 00:02:46.810 as the man with the million dollar voice. Right, 00:02:46.810 --> 00:02:49.090 because of his incredibly charismatic, highly 00:02:49.090 --> 00:02:51.469 musical preaching style. Exactly. He was highly 00:02:51.469 --> 00:02:53.610 sought after. He was making thousands of dollars 00:02:53.610 --> 00:02:55.909 traveling the country, delivering sermons, and 00:02:55.909 --> 00:02:58.610 it created a household that was this massive 00:02:58.610 --> 00:03:01.030 spiritual and cultural epicenter. Like a hub 00:03:01.030 --> 00:03:03.500 for greatness. Yeah. If you walk through their 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:05.539 living room on any given day, you might casually 00:03:05.539 --> 00:03:07.639 bump into civil rights giants like Martin Luther 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:11.020 King Jr. Wow. Or gospel royalty like Haley Jackson, 00:03:11.219 --> 00:03:13.780 Clare Ward, James Claveley. Just sitting there? 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:16.919 I mean, it sounds like a breathtaking environment 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:18.879 for a young musician to grow up in. It's like 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:21.199 she was raised in a high stakes Olympic training 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.340 camp for soul music. That's a great way to put 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:27.280 it. But there is a very dark, incredibly heavy 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:30.020 reality beneath all of that prestige, isn't there? 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:32.969 There really was. It was a household defined 00:03:32.969 --> 00:03:36.469 by intense contradictions because C .L. Franklin 00:03:36.469 --> 00:03:39.189 had a deeply troubled personal life. The sources 00:03:39.189 --> 00:03:41.169 are pretty clear on that. Yeah, the reality of 00:03:41.169 --> 00:03:43.870 his lifestyle included numerous infidelities. 00:03:44.409 --> 00:03:46.669 And this is heavy. He was known to knowingly 00:03:46.669 --> 00:03:50.250 prey on preteen congregants. Oh, wow. Yeah. It 00:03:50.250 --> 00:03:52.770 was an environment of intense predation and instability. 00:03:53.189 --> 00:03:55.509 And because of his behavior, Aretha's parents 00:03:55.509 --> 00:03:58.680 separated. And then tragedy strikes again pretty 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.520 soon after. It does. Just weeks before Aretha's 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:04.680 10th birthday, her mother, Barbara, died suddenly 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:07.060 of a heart attack. So you have this young girl, 00:04:07.180 --> 00:04:10.800 not even 10 years old, navigating this suffocating, 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.860 massive grief, living in a house that is essentially 00:04:13.860 --> 00:04:16.819 a revolving door of both absolute brilliance 00:04:16.819 --> 00:04:20.319 and deep adult trauma. It forces her into adulthood 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:22.079 almost immediately. I mean, by the time she was 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:23.720 12, she became pregnant with her first child. 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:26.500 12 years old, that's just heartbreaking. It is. 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:29.879 And then at 15, she had her second. Both children 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:32.180 were fathered by a man named Edward Jordan, Sr. 00:04:32.430 --> 00:04:35.069 And how does a child even manage that? Well, 00:04:35.230 --> 00:04:36.829 her grandmother and her sister had to step in 00:04:36.829 --> 00:04:39.149 to help raise the children, just so Aretha could 00:04:39.149 --> 00:04:42.490 continue her education and, crucially, her music. 00:04:42.810 --> 00:04:45.009 It's just an overwhelming amount of weight for 00:04:45.009 --> 00:04:47.269 a child to carry, but this is where the musical 00:04:47.269 --> 00:04:50.310 output begins to kind of defy logic. Right, because 00:04:50.310 --> 00:04:52.750 she's learning the piano entirely by ear at this 00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:54.750 point. Completely by ear. And she's spending 00:04:54.750 --> 00:04:57.370 her summers on the fiercely competitive gospel 00:04:57.370 --> 00:05:00.509 circuit in Chicago, staying with Mavis Staples' 00:05:00.589 --> 00:05:03.509 family, basically absorbing the techniques of 00:05:03.509 --> 00:05:06.050 the greatest vocalists alive. And it culminates 00:05:06.050 --> 00:05:09.189 incredibly early. At just 14 years old, she records 00:05:09.189 --> 00:05:12.040 an album called Songs of Faith. If you listen 00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:14.339 to that record, I mean I listen to some of it, 00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:16.980 it does not sound like a 14 year old girl. Not 00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:19.959 at all. The legendary producer Jerry Wexler later 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:22.560 described her voice on that early recording as 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:25.259 an ecstatic hierophant. Which is such a wild 00:05:25.259 --> 00:05:27.629 phrase I actually had to look that word up. A 00:05:27.629 --> 00:05:30.470 hierophant is like a high priest who interprets 00:05:30.470 --> 00:05:33.970 sacred mysteries. So my question is, how on earth 00:05:33.970 --> 00:05:36.930 does a 14 -year -old possess the musical and 00:05:36.930 --> 00:05:39.589 emotional architecture to sound like an ancient 00:05:39.589 --> 00:05:41.889 interpreter of sacred mystery? Well, because 00:05:41.889 --> 00:05:45.310 it wasn't a performance. I think that is the 00:05:45.310 --> 00:05:47.610 crucial mechanism here. What do you mean? Most 00:05:47.610 --> 00:05:50.589 artists, even really great ones, spend a lifetime 00:05:50.589 --> 00:05:53.069 trying to manufacture a sense of profound depth 00:05:53.069 --> 00:05:56.100 or heartbreak for the microphone. Aretha didn't 00:05:56.100 --> 00:05:58.240 have to manufacture anything. Ah, because of 00:05:58.240 --> 00:05:59.920 the childhood we just talked about. Exactly. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:02.420 Her early exposure to crushing adult burdens 00:06:02.420 --> 00:06:05.620 and profound loss combined with the daily, intensive 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:08.199 technical training of playing piano and singing 00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:11.560 with world -class gospel giants. It gave her 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:14.379 a well of authentic, lived emotion. The pain 00:06:14.379 --> 00:06:17.709 was real. The pain was entirely real. and she 00:06:17.709 --> 00:06:20.389 had been handed the exact musical tools required 00:06:20.389 --> 00:06:23.509 to express it. Okay, so she possesses this incredibly 00:06:23.509 --> 00:06:27.930 rich, dense gospel foundation, but raw, undeniable 00:06:27.930 --> 00:06:30.970 talent doesn't just automatically translate into 00:06:30.970 --> 00:06:33.370 cultural impact, right? No, it has to find the 00:06:33.370 --> 00:06:35.389 right environment to thrive. And this brings 00:06:35.389 --> 00:06:37.910 us to a really fascinating pivot in her late 00:06:37.910 --> 00:06:41.810 teens. At 18, she decides she wants to cross 00:06:41.810 --> 00:06:44.250 over into pop music. A huge risk at the time. 00:06:44.350 --> 00:06:47.209 Totally. She leaves Detroit for New - and she 00:06:47.209 --> 00:06:50.050 actually turns down Barry Gordy at Motown and 00:06:50.050 --> 00:06:53.569 Sam Cooke at RCA, which seems crazy in hindsight. 00:06:53.589 --> 00:06:55.689 It really does. And she signs with Columbia Records 00:06:55.689 --> 00:06:57.589 instead. Yeah, it was a very deliberate choice 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:01.209 on her part. But Columbia fundamentally misunderstood 00:07:01.209 --> 00:07:04.269 what they had. How so? Well, they saw a talented 00:07:04.269 --> 00:07:06.389 vocalist and decided to put her into the standard 00:07:06.389 --> 00:07:09.470 pop machine. They had her singing doo -wop, vocal 00:07:09.470 --> 00:07:12.439 jazz. pristine pop ballads kind of smoothing 00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:14.980 her out exactly they were bringing in choreographers 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:17.459 to teach her how to move properly for polite 00:07:17.459 --> 00:07:20.120 middle america pop performances they were trying 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:22.779 to completely file down her edges but wait i 00:07:22.779 --> 00:07:25.290 want to pause here Because the historical narrative 00:07:25.290 --> 00:07:28.149 often paints her time at Columbia as this massive 00:07:28.149 --> 00:07:30.209 failure. Right. That's the common story. But 00:07:30.209 --> 00:07:33.470 looking at the sources, by the mid -1960s, she 00:07:33.470 --> 00:07:36.709 was making roughly $100 ,000 a year performing 00:07:36.709 --> 00:07:38.889 in nightclubs and theaters. Which was a fortune 00:07:38.889 --> 00:07:42.350 back then. Right. Making $100 ,000 a year in 00:07:42.350 --> 00:07:45.610 1964 is essentially millionaire status today. 00:07:46.509 --> 00:07:49.569 She is incredibly profitable. So why was a label 00:07:49.569 --> 00:07:53.279 change even necessary? Why risk leaving a machine 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:56.259 that is paying you that much money? That is the 00:07:56.259 --> 00:07:58.379 perfect question because it highlights the fundamental 00:07:58.379 --> 00:08:01.240 difference between commercial survival and artistic 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:03.720 actualization. Okay, unpack that a bit. Yes. 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:05.959 She was making great money. She was a working, 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:09.079 highly successful singer. But Columbia executive 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:11.800 John H. Hammond later admitted their fatal flaw. 00:08:12.699 --> 00:08:14.920 They completely failed to bring out her gospel 00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:17.000 roots. She was just playing a role. Exactly. 00:08:17.139 --> 00:08:19.259 She was interpreting other people's polite arrangements. 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:21.480 She was making money, but she wasn't making history. 00:08:22.180 --> 00:08:24.139 It's the difference between being a highly paid 00:08:24.139 --> 00:08:27.579 employee and being a visionary. She was profitable, 00:08:27.579 --> 00:08:31.939 but she was caged. Precisely. And in fact, despite 00:08:31.939 --> 00:08:34.220 her live performance income, when her contract 00:08:34.220 --> 00:08:37.779 expired in 1966, she actually owed Columbia money 00:08:37.779 --> 00:08:40.519 because her record sales hadn't met their massive 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:43.080 manufactured expectations. Oh, wow. I didn't 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:45.940 realize that. Yeah. So Jerry Wexler convinces 00:08:45.940 --> 00:08:49.559 her to move to Atlantic Records. And Wexler's 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:52.639 entire philosophy was the exact opposite of Columbia's. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:55.460 He didn't want the choreographed pop star. No, 00:08:55.460 --> 00:08:58.799 he wanted raw, tenacious rhythm and blues. He 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.769 wanted the gospel. And the mechanism of how they 00:09:01.769 --> 00:09:05.289 achieve that is incredible. In January 1967, 00:09:05.490 --> 00:09:08.070 Wexler sends her to Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, 00:09:08.070 --> 00:09:10.610 Alabama. A legendary place. Right. And this isn't 00:09:10.610 --> 00:09:13.230 a pristine, heavily orchestrated New York studio. 00:09:13.309 --> 00:09:15.830 This is the gritty Muscle Shoals rhythm section. 00:09:16.169 --> 00:09:18.129 And the way they recorded was completely different. 00:09:18.389 --> 00:09:20.370 Yeah. At Columbia, she was singing over pre -written 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:23.470 sheet music arrangements. At Muscle Shoals, Wexler 00:09:23.470 --> 00:09:25.549 did something revolutionary for her pop career. 00:09:25.610 --> 00:09:27.470 What did he do? He sat her down at the piano. 00:09:27.629 --> 00:09:30.269 That's the key because her piano playing isn't 00:09:30.269 --> 00:09:32.429 just like light background accompaniment. No, 00:09:32.590 --> 00:09:35.970 it's heavily corded, highly rhythmic gospel piano. 00:09:36.529 --> 00:09:39.629 Exactly. When she sat at the piano, she dictated 00:09:39.629 --> 00:09:42.629 the entire groove of the song. The musicians 00:09:42.629 --> 00:09:44.750 at Muscle Shoals weren't reading charts. They 00:09:44.750 --> 00:09:47.409 were head arranging. Just playing by feel. Yeah. 00:09:47.590 --> 00:09:50.289 Listening to her heavy gospel chords and her 00:09:50.289 --> 00:09:52.870 vocal phrasing and locking into the pocket right 00:09:52.870 --> 00:09:55.490 behind her. That's how they recorded this man. 00:09:56.029 --> 00:09:59.100 I never loved a man. the way I love you. Even 00:09:59.100 --> 00:10:01.440 though that specific recording session famously 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:03.720 blew up after just one day, right? Oh, yeah. 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:06.019 It was a disaster, personally. Yeah, the sources 00:10:06.019 --> 00:10:08.240 say there was a massive altercation between her 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:10.320 then husband and manager, Ted White, the studio 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:13.860 owner, and a horn player. But even so, that single 00:10:13.860 --> 00:10:16.879 song changed the trajectory of music. Completely. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:19.440 The sessions were abandoned, but that one track 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:22.139 catapults to number one on the R &B chart and 00:10:22.139 --> 00:10:25.169 becomes her first top 10 pop single. You know, 00:10:25.250 --> 00:10:27.450 if you've ever felt like you're working incredibly 00:10:27.450 --> 00:10:30.490 hard but somehow still hitting a ceiling, Aretha's 00:10:30.490 --> 00:10:33.230 transition from Columbia to Atlantic is the ultimate 00:10:33.230 --> 00:10:35.769 case study. How so? Because success isn't just 00:10:35.769 --> 00:10:38.350 a formula of hard work. It is about finding the 00:10:38.350 --> 00:10:40.289 specific environment that actually understands 00:10:40.289 --> 00:10:42.389 the mechanics of your foundational strengths. 00:10:43.009 --> 00:10:45.879 Finding your people, basically. Exactly. Wexler 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:48.000 simply removed the choreographers and the sheet 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:50.740 music, put her back at the piano, and let her 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:52.940 dictate the rhythm. And once she was given the 00:10:52.940 --> 00:10:55.100 space to dictate the rhythm, she didn't just 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:58.500 churn out hits. she sparked a cultural revolution. 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:01.360 She really did. She transitions from a successful 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:05.220 singer into an absolute icon of the civil rights 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:08.080 and feminist movements. And the clearest, most 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:10.659 undeniable example of this is what she did to 00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:13.279 the song Respect. Originally written and performed 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:15.820 by the great Otis Redding. Right. Otis Redding 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:18.639 writes, Respect from the perspective of a tired, 00:11:18.980 --> 00:11:21.559 working man coming home expecting his woman to 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:23.659 give him respect. A very traditional dynamic. 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:26.820 Totally. But Aretha takes this track and fundamentally 00:11:26.820 --> 00:11:29.879 weaponizes it. She flips the perspective to a 00:11:29.879 --> 00:11:32.340 woman demanding respect 24 -7. And she didn't 00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:35.519 just change the lyrics. She completely restructured 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:37.879 the musical DNA of the track. What did she change 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:40.639 musically? She drove the tempo up. She brought 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:44.039 in her sisters, Irma and Carolyn, to lay down 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:46.940 those relentless driving background vocals. The 00:11:46.940 --> 00:11:50.500 socket to me part? Yes. The socket to me socket 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:52.940 to me hook, which they actually pulled from local 00:11:52.940 --> 00:11:54.990 neighborhood slang. And then, of course, the 00:11:54.990 --> 00:11:58.590 emphatic, aggressive spelling out of R -E -S 00:11:58.590 --> 00:12:01.289 -P -E -C -T, which wasn't in the original at 00:12:01.289 --> 00:12:04.090 all. Not a single letter of it. She took a polite, 00:12:04.330 --> 00:12:07.309 bluesy plea and turned it into an unignorable 00:12:07.309 --> 00:12:10.129 demand. Even Otis Redding, when he heard it, 00:12:10.190 --> 00:12:11.970 just shook his head and said, that little girl 00:12:11.970 --> 00:12:14.750 done took my song away from me. I mean, it demonstrates 00:12:14.750 --> 00:12:17.169 a staggering level of artistic intelligence. 00:12:17.309 --> 00:12:19.929 Yeah. She understood the power of subtext and 00:12:19.929 --> 00:12:22.350 arranged it. She really did. By driving that 00:12:22.350 --> 00:12:25.409 song with her relentless vocal power and shifting 00:12:25.409 --> 00:12:28.009 the groove, she didn't just create a feminist 00:12:28.009 --> 00:12:31.509 anthem. It became an anthem for the entire civil 00:12:31.509 --> 00:12:33.509 rights movement. And her involvement in civil 00:12:33.509 --> 00:12:35.789 rights was deeply tangible. She wasn't just singing 00:12:35.789 --> 00:12:37.990 the soundtrack from a safe distance. No, she 00:12:37.990 --> 00:12:40.710 was actively involved. She was putting her actual 00:12:40.710 --> 00:12:42.990 capital and her freedom on the line. It's like 00:12:42.990 --> 00:12:45.049 she was an angel investor for the civil rights 00:12:45.049 --> 00:12:48.149 movement. She literally provided payroll for 00:12:48.149 --> 00:12:51.139 organizers. She was absolutely bankrupt. parts 00:12:51.139 --> 00:12:54.440 of the movement. In 1970, when the activist Angela 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:57.960 Davis was jailed, Aretha publicly and loudly 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:00.820 offered to post her bail. That's a huge risk 00:13:00.820 --> 00:13:03.879 for a pop star. Massive. She told Jet Magazine, 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:05.799 I know you got to disturb the peace when you 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:08.679 can't get no peace. She explicitly stated her 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:11.059 desire to see black people free, and she was 00:13:11.059 --> 00:13:13.679 willing to risk her own commercial standing to 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.309 enforce it. When you look at the full scope of 00:13:16.309 --> 00:13:19.370 her life, her activism is a constant steady through 00:13:19.370 --> 00:13:22.139 line. Decades of it. Right. And just as a quick 00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:25.539 note for you listening, our goal here is to impartially 00:13:25.539 --> 00:13:28.059 report what's in the source material, not to 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:30.639 endorse any specific political views, but the 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:33.240 sources detail a wide spectrum of activism over 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.340 her life. Definitely. She toured with Dr. Martin 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:37.919 Luther King Jr. when she was just 16. She sang 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:41.120 at his funeral in 1968. She quietly supported 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:43.779 Native American and First Nation cultural rights 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:46.179 worldwide, completely under the radar. Which 00:13:46.179 --> 00:13:48.679 a lot of people don't know about. Yeah. And decades 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:51.299 later, in 2017, the sources note she declined 00:13:51.299 --> 00:13:53.799 an invitation to perform at Donald Trump's presidential 00:13:53.799 --> 00:13:57.299 inauguration as an act of musical protest. Regardless 00:13:57.299 --> 00:13:59.460 of the political era, her actions were always 00:13:59.460 --> 00:14:02.259 dictated by her own unshakable convictions. Which 00:14:02.259 --> 00:14:04.700 is a really powerful lesson in leverage. She 00:14:04.700 --> 00:14:07.529 never separated her art from her beliefs. She 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:09.710 used the immense cultural capital she earned 00:14:09.710 --> 00:14:12.389 at Atlantic Records to physically and financially 00:14:12.389 --> 00:14:15.549 protect embattled communities. But as we know, 00:14:15.870 --> 00:14:17.809 cultural revolutions eventually settle into a 00:14:17.809 --> 00:14:21.350 new normal. The 1960s and 70s end, and musical 00:14:21.350 --> 00:14:24.210 trends shift dramatically. They always do. By 00:14:24.210 --> 00:14:26.629 the late 1970s, she hits a serious commercial 00:14:26.629 --> 00:14:28.809 slump. Her albums are bombing on the charts. 00:14:29.149 --> 00:14:31.529 Disco and synthesized pop are completely taking 00:14:31.529 --> 00:14:34.769 over. So how does an absolute legend avoid becoming 00:14:34.769 --> 00:14:37.370 just a legacy act? playing the oldies circuit. 00:14:37.629 --> 00:14:39.809 Well, you have to systematically dismantle what 00:14:39.809 --> 00:14:41.549 worked yesterday and reinvent yourself. And she 00:14:41.549 --> 00:14:44.110 does exactly that. In 1980, she leaves Atlantic 00:14:44.110 --> 00:14:46.370 and signs with Clive Davis at Arista Records. 00:14:46.990 --> 00:14:49.070 And instead of trying to defensively recreate 00:14:49.070 --> 00:14:51.950 her 1960s sound, she leans entirely into the 00:14:51.950 --> 00:14:54.809 new era. She does a cameo in the 1980 comedy 00:14:54.809 --> 00:14:57.330 film The Blues Brothers, which introduces her 00:14:57.330 --> 00:14:59.809 to a totally different demographic. A brilliant 00:14:59.809 --> 00:15:03.789 move. And musically, she embraces synthesized 00:15:03.789 --> 00:15:07.269 dance rock with the track Freeway of Love. She 00:15:07.269 --> 00:15:09.909 pivots to music videos and gets heavy rotation 00:15:09.909 --> 00:15:12.529 on this brand new network called MTV. Right. 00:15:12.570 --> 00:15:14.789 She adapted to the visual medium. She starts 00:15:14.789 --> 00:15:16.809 collaborating with younger artists, too, doing 00:15:16.809 --> 00:15:19.529 sisters are doing it for themselves with the 00:15:19.529 --> 00:15:22.370 Eurythmics and a globally massive duet. I knew 00:15:22.370 --> 00:15:24.409 you were waiting for me with George Michael. 00:15:24.690 --> 00:15:27.370 She proves she is highly adaptable. But the moment 00:15:27.370 --> 00:15:29.309 that proves this wasn't just clever marketing 00:15:29.309 --> 00:15:32.009 or, you know, relying on flashy 80s production, 00:15:32.490 --> 00:15:35.269 the moment that cements her sheer technical genius 00:15:35.269 --> 00:15:37.690 brings us right back to where we started today. 00:15:37.970 --> 00:15:41.370 The 1998 Grammys. Yes. The Pavarotti moment. 00:15:41.570 --> 00:15:43.639 Yeah. When she stepped in for him, she was relying 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:45.679 on what the journalist David Remnick called her 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.419 musical intelligence. OK, I like that term. Because 00:15:48.419 --> 00:15:51.100 singing a classical Italian opera aria when you 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:53.620 are a soul singer isn't just about having strong 00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:55.539 lungs. Right. I'm trying to wrap my head around 00:15:55.539 --> 00:15:57.639 the mechanics of that. It's not like a great 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:00.220 athlete trying a different sport. No, it's deeper 00:16:00.220 --> 00:16:02.700 than that. It feels more like a master poet who 00:16:02.700 --> 00:16:05.960 only writes in English being asked on five minutes 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:08.840 notice to walk on stage and deliver a deeply 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:12.100 moving, technically perfect speech. in Italian 00:16:12.100 --> 00:16:15.879 to an audience of native Italian speakers. That 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:18.559 is the perfect analogy. How does a poet do that? 00:16:18.659 --> 00:16:21.840 I have no idea. Because they fundamentally understand 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:24.679 the universal syntax of emotion, rhythm, and 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:28.860 breath. Aretha had sung the aria two nights prior 00:16:28.860 --> 00:16:32.340 at a charity event. Yes. But to step in for the 00:16:32.340 --> 00:16:35.169 greatest tenor in the world... in his key with 00:16:35.169 --> 00:16:37.750 his orchestra requires a cellular understanding 00:16:37.750 --> 00:16:40.529 of music. It's just mind -blowing. Her ear, trained 00:16:40.529 --> 00:16:43.470 by years of improvisational gospel piano, allowed 00:16:43.470 --> 00:16:45.690 her to intuitively grasp interval relationships 00:16:45.690 --> 00:16:48.909 in complex classical phrasing. She transposed 00:16:48.909 --> 00:16:51.029 the emotional weight of the opera through the 00:16:51.029 --> 00:16:53.190 technical filter of her own vocal mastery. It's 00:16:53.190 --> 00:16:54.990 a stunning display of intellect, not just raw 00:16:54.990 --> 00:16:58.190 talent. Which perfectly sets up the final act 00:16:58.190 --> 00:17:00.809 of her life, because what stands out most in 00:17:00.809 --> 00:17:03.549 her later years is how fiercely, almost aggressively, 00:17:03.789 --> 00:17:06.170 individual she remained. She lived her entire 00:17:06.170 --> 00:17:08.369 life completely on her own terms. And you see 00:17:08.369 --> 00:17:11.769 that beautifully encapsulated at the 2015 Kennedy 00:17:11.769 --> 00:17:14.450 Center Honors. Oh, I love this moment. She is 00:17:14.450 --> 00:17:16.910 performing, you make me feel like, a natural 00:17:16.910 --> 00:17:19.190 woman in honor of Carole King, who co -wrote 00:17:19.190 --> 00:17:21.069 the song. She sits at the piano playing those 00:17:21.069 --> 00:17:23.910 heavy gospel chords, completely bringing President 00:17:23.910 --> 00:17:26.490 Barack Obama to visible tears in the audience. 00:17:26.609 --> 00:17:29.250 Yeah, the emotion was so raw. And then, right 00:17:29.250 --> 00:17:31.450 at the swelling bridge of the song, she stands 00:17:31.450 --> 00:17:34.309 up, steps away from the piano, and dramatically 00:17:34.309 --> 00:17:37.269 drops her full -length fur coat right off her 00:17:37.269 --> 00:17:39.849 shoulders onto the stage. The symbolism there 00:17:39.849 --> 00:17:42.740 is just... It is deeply symbolic because the 00:17:42.740 --> 00:17:44.740 tradition of gospel queens dropping their furs 00:17:44.740 --> 00:17:47.440 onto the coffins of other gospel singers is a 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.960 gesture of absolute defiance. Defiance against 00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:52.880 what? Well, it honors the dead but it actively 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:56.279 castigates death itself. Dropping that coat was 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:58.960 a synthesis of everything she was. Triumphant, 00:17:59.259 --> 00:18:01.900 pained, deeply rooted in gospel and entirely 00:18:01.900 --> 00:18:04.730 in command of the room. Wow. As President Obama 00:18:04.730 --> 00:18:07.690 noted, she captured the absolute fullness of 00:18:07.690 --> 00:18:10.309 the American experience, the view from the very 00:18:10.309 --> 00:18:13.190 bottom as well as the top. She passed away in 00:18:13.190 --> 00:18:16.089 August 2018 at her home in Detroit from a rare 00:18:16.089 --> 00:18:19.529 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor. But even the 00:18:19.529 --> 00:18:23.029 aftermath of her death was wildly, uniquely Aretha. 00:18:23.259 --> 00:18:25.700 It really was. Initially, the world thought she 00:18:25.700 --> 00:18:28.799 had died without a will. Then her family famously 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:31.279 discovered multiple handwritten wills literally 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:33.759 stuffed down into her couch cushions, which is 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:36.140 just crazy to think about. One of them found 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:38.759 in a spiral notebook under a cushion from 2014 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:42.039 was actually just ruled as her legally binding 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:45.259 will in 2023. You know, it sounds eccentric on 00:18:45.259 --> 00:18:46.960 the surface, but if you look at the psychology 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:49.799 of her life, leaving a legally binding will in 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:51.759 a couch cushion makes perfect sense. How so? 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:53.940 This is a woman whose childhood was defined by 00:18:53.940 --> 00:18:56.759 a total lack of control and chaotic adults. As 00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:59.380 she gained power, she demanded absolute control 00:18:59.380 --> 00:19:01.279 over her environment. Right. She needed to be 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:03.299 the one calling the shots. Exactly. Keep in mind, 00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:06.500 after 1984, she developed an intense fear of 00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:09.000 flying and absolutely refused to get on a plane. 00:19:09.059 --> 00:19:12.160 Never flew again. Never. She only traveled by 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:14.819 custom bus and only performed in North America. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:18.059 She managed her own contracts, demanded her performance 00:19:18.059 --> 00:19:21.259 fees and cash up front, and apparently hid her 00:19:21.259 --> 00:19:23.440 most important legal documents where only she 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.390 could find them. She trusted no one but herself. 00:19:26.589 --> 00:19:28.869 And it was that fierce independence that made 00:19:28.869 --> 00:19:32.049 her the first woman ever inducted into the Rock 00:19:32.049 --> 00:19:34.730 and Roll Hall of Fame and the first individual 00:19:34.730 --> 00:19:37.930 woman ever awarded a Pulitzer Prize special citation 00:19:37.930 --> 00:19:40.690 for her contribution to American culture. She 00:19:40.690 --> 00:19:43.450 demanded respect and she literally forced the 00:19:43.450 --> 00:19:45.480 world to give it to her. So for you listening, 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:48.359 there is so much to take away from this. Aretha's 00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:51.140 Journey is the ultimate masterclass in understanding 00:19:51.140 --> 00:19:53.440 your foundational roots. Absolutely. It's about 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:56.460 recognizing when an environment, no matter how 00:19:56.460 --> 00:19:59.359 profitable it might be, is caging you in. And 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:02.180 it is about possessing the profound courage to 00:20:02.180 --> 00:20:05.220 constantly adapt and reinvent yourself without 00:20:05.220 --> 00:20:08.519 ever sacrificing the core of who you are. And 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:10.279 I want to leave you with this final thought to 00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:12.740 really mull over. Go for it. We have this tendency 00:20:12.740 --> 00:20:16.180 in culture. to romanticize the raw emotion of 00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:18.460 legendary artists. We look at their trauma and 00:20:18.460 --> 00:20:21.059 we assume that their personal pain just, you 00:20:21.059 --> 00:20:23.519 know, effortlessly bleeds out of them and magically 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:25.799 translates into beautiful art. I think it's just 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:28.220 pure instinct. Exactly. But when you look at 00:20:28.220 --> 00:20:30.519 the incredible technical precision, the sheer 00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:32.980 intellect, and the complex musical mechanics 00:20:32.980 --> 00:20:36.099 Aretha utilized to construct a song moment by 00:20:36.099 --> 00:20:39.480 moment, we have to ask ourselves something. What's 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:42.910 that? Do we do brilliant artists a massive disservice 00:20:42.910 --> 00:20:45.650 by focusing so heavily on their tragic backstories? 00:20:45.950 --> 00:20:48.589 By focusing only on their pain? Are we failing 00:20:48.589 --> 00:20:51.029 to give them the proper credit for the sheer, 00:20:51.269 --> 00:20:54.190 calculated, intellectual genius required to turn 00:20:54.190 --> 00:20:57.029 that pain into a flawless, world -changing masterpiece? 00:20:57.329 --> 00:20:59.970 Wow. That completely shifts how you listen to 00:20:59.970 --> 00:21:01.809 a record. Because it proves that the magic isn't 00:21:01.809 --> 00:21:04.069 just in the feeling. The magic is in the absolute 00:21:04.069 --> 00:21:06.569 mastery of the architecture. Thank you so much 00:21:06.569 --> 00:21:08.609 for joining us on this deep dive. Keep listening, 00:21:08.829 --> 00:21:10.309 keep questioning, and keep exploring.