Although Aretha Franklin passed away on August 16, 2018, her music remains timeless. Franklin’s song “Never Gonna Break My Faith” featuring the Boys Choir of Harlem has taken the Number 1 spot on the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart for July 4th. This Grammy award-winning song has secured Franklin a number 1 hit in every decade since the 1960s, according to Billboard.
To coincide with Black Lives Matter protests in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the song was released last month with a new music video showing protests from the Civil Rights era to today.
She sings, “My Lord, won’t you help them to understand when someone takes the life of an innocent man well they’ve never really won, cuz all they’ve really done is set the soul free – where it’s supposed to be.”
Reigning respect, the new teaser trailer of biopic film “Respect” was released at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 28th, along with never-before-seen images of the Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson starring as the incomparable “Queen of Soul.”
(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
“Respect” is the first authorized feature film based on the life of Aretha Franklin. This MGM biopic is set for release on Christmas Day 2020, after having to delay it’s initial Hollywood premiere due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside Hudson, it also stars Forest Whitaker (father Rev. C.L. Franklin), Audra McDonald (mother Barbara Franklin) and Marlon Wayans (husband-manager Ted White), and Mary J. Blige (Dinah Washington).
“Respect” chronicles the extraordinary, glamorous, musical, fashionable, and, at times, tragic moments of Franklin’s life. It follows the Detroit singer’s life from when she was a young girl into the 1960s, a time when her career was blossoming. As her innovative musical exploration and popularity expanded, she was surrounded by the wider social disruption that was taking place.
The Black Lives Matter movement is at the helm of fighting against racial and systemic injustice, and this film may be perfectly timed in its cinematic release. According to the Detroit Free Press, Hudson commented on how the film “resonates with what’s happening right now, which makes it even that much more powerful.” She added, “I almost can’t even gather the words, but it’s as if a voice from the past is speaking up right now, which just shows how timeless her music was and is.”
Jennifer Hudson stars as Aretha Franklin in “Respect.”(Quantrell D. Colbert)
Hudson was hand-picked for the role of Franklin by the Queen of Soul herself several years before she died from pancreatic cancer in 2018. With this casting comes the monumental task of carrying the weight of this incredible woman’s life and portray it authentically and musically.
Will the distribution of the new biopic bring about more number 1 hits for Franklin? We can only hope, but it already has our attention and R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
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