14 DAY TRIAL // The other day saw the release of Aretha Franklin’s cover of Adele’s hit song “Rolling in the Deep,” which is included on her brand new album “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics.” Hours after the studio version hit the web, the iconic singer appeared on David Letterman to perform it live.
And boy did it turn out to be a memorable performance, and not necessarily because of Aretha’s voice.
As you can see in the video below, perhaps more remarkable than the singer’s ill-chosen dress was the way one of her backup singers acted throughout the performance. That’s Cissy Houston behind Aretha, aka the mother of the late Whitney Houston.
Cissy is making faces for the entire duration of the song, acting “out of it,” refusing to dance with the other backup singers, and oh-so-obviously not remembering the words of the song, which Aretha mixed with words from “Ain’t No Mountain” to create a beautiful medley.
Most commenters online believe that Cissy was “high,” but there’s really no telling if that was the case or not. There is no denying, however, that she wasn’t in the performance 100 percent – or even 10 percent, for that matter –, and that she acted as if she wished she was someplace else. At one point, she even seemed to roll her eyes at Aretha herself.
Speaking of Aretha, she did her best to make an impression with her cover of Adele. She’s an exceptional singer and an icon, so fans are even willing to let her decision to wear that dress slide: there simply comes a time in a woman’s life when she earns the right to do as she pleases, without caring about what others have to say.
Even so, Cissy still stole her thunder and got everybody paying attention to her, so no wonder the video is going viral. Here it is, check it out!
