Tony, Grammy, and Emmy winner Cynthia Erivo sang a snippet of “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You)” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert October 30. The song was made famous by Aretha Franklin, who Erivo will play in the upcoming NatGeo series Genius: Aretha.
In addition to her singing, Erivo shared that the Queen of Soul once visited the Tony winner when she was in The Color Purple. Backstage, Franklin performed a bar of “I’m Here,” nearly causing the upcoming Harriet star to faint.
Erivo and Colbert also talked about the recently scrapped plans to put Tubman’s face on the 20-dollar bill: “I think she’s done the work that is deserving of representation on currency and I think it will happen because there’s no reason to not have it happen.”
READ: How Playing The Color Purple’s Celie Prepared Cynthia Erivo for Harriet Tubman
Check out the entire interview and the Tony winner’s sample of Franklin above.