It helps that Hudson can sing anything. And I do mean anything. Respect covers a significant and tumultuous early period in Franklin’s professional career, showing the 18-year-old singer signing with Columbia Records and staying with her until she records her Grammy Award-winning 1972 album Amazing Grace, still the best-selling record in Franklin’s entire catalogue. Over the course of that time, Franklin experimented with everything as she sought to establish her identity, switching from jazz and standards to pop music, soul and, finally, gospel. Hudson convincingly sings every note, and you marvel at her spiritual performance but then stop to realize, “Wait, Franklin did all of this first!” Respect, at the very least, conveys Franklin’s versatility as a songwriter and performer, as well as her passion for perfection when it came to her music.
