{"id":297,"date":"2015-02-24T07:50:06","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T13:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=297"},"modified":"2015-04-30T09:07:06","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T14:07:06","slug":"aretha-franklin-is-sexy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2015\/02\/24\/aretha-franklin-is-sexy\/","title":{"rendered":"Aretha Franklin is Sexy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aretha Franklin is\u00a0iconic. \u00a0Known for her unbelievable talent as an American soul singer and songwriter from a young age, she is one of the few artists known by most generations of today’s Americans. \u00a0Whether you grew up listening to Aretha as she poured out her soulful records, or just now get to appreciate her recent performances or recordings with Tony Bennett, you’ve most likely heard about or listened to this amazing performer. \u00a0Her prowess as a performer catapulted her center stage, making her a symbol for the women’s and African-American movement through songs such as “Respect” among others.<\/p>\n

However, she was not always respected as her famous song demanded, and this clipping from the New York Times in 1968 shows a more accurate real-time reaction to this rising star.<\/p>\n

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Albert Goldman, authoring this article, was no stranger to music critique and analysis. Writing epic-length books and articles about legends like Elvis and John Lennon, he\u00a0commonly inspired outrage from his subject’s fans for his vulgar portrayal which saw no bounds. \u00a0It seems that this article somewhat slipped under the radar, though, because the underlying themes he discussed were and are nothing new to American society. \u00a0Trying to pinpoint what exactly provided the “it” factor for Aretha, what set her apart from the rest of the performers, we can already see his conclusion by looking at the title of the article. \u00a0He credits her success to “the gift of being a ‘natural woman.'” He explains this as an embodiment of the full range of female emotion. \u00a0Praising her ebullience and lack of self-consciousness as she sings each phrase effortlessly, he touches on the authenticity of her performance. \u00a0Using her performance of Mick Jagger’s “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” as an example of what he thinks is her greatest recording to date, he dives in on the sexualization of Aretha Franklin.<\/p>\n

He calls the song “A jubilee: a finger-popping, hip-swinging Mardi Gras strut that is the greatest\u00a0proclamation of sexual fulfillment since Molly Bloom’s Soliloquy. \u00a0You can watch her performance and decide for yourself whether this is an accurate description.<\/p>\n