Cynthia Erivo

The Tony, Emmy, and Grammy winner on playing Aretha Franklin and recording an album during a pandemic

The Tony, Emmy, and Grammy winner on playing Aretha Franklin and recording an album during a pandemic.

When cynthia Erivo was cast as Harriet Tubman in the 2019 biopic Harriet, the internet lit up with criticism. Erivo is English, the outcry went, how could she do justice to a uniquely American hero? Her answer was a muscular performance that earned her an Oscar nomination. Backlash surrounding her casting as another American icon, Aretha Franklin, in the National Geographic series Genius: Aretha (premiering March 21st), was barely a whisper. Perhaps people are learning not to underestimate Erivo. Or perhaps it’s just that anyone who’s heard her sing knows her voice is undeniable — even the Queen of Soul herself. During Erivo’s Tonywinning turn as Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway, Franklin visited backstage, singing a line of Erivo’s bringthe-house-down number

“I’m Here” back to her. When they met again at the 2016 Kennedy Center Honors, “she remembered me,” Erivo says. “She said, ‘You’re the girl that can sing, right?’ ”

Harriet Tubman is an icon, but with Aretha, you’re dealing with the shadow of a modern legend: the ultimate diva. Is that more challenging for you as an actor?

Yeah, because she had a couple of sides to her. There was the side in front of interviewers — if she wasn’t quite comfortable with them, it was very reserved, superquiet. And then there’s the side that her family got to see, just fun and jokey. She had a really big sense of humor. Also, she had such complex relationships with people. So it’s less difficult, more daunting.

Was there one detail that unlocked her for you?

Watching Amazing Grace was eye-opening for me, because it’s so strange — when she’s singing “Amazing Grace,” she looks like she’s going to take flight. It’s coming through her. And then she opens her eyes, and something disappears. I felt a sadness. Something left her for a second, and it only comes back when she’s in the music, singing.

How did you reach a place where you could sing like her without doing a note-for-note imitation?

There was a lot of learning to do, habits that she has that I don’t have. There’s a song called “Never Grow Old” I really struggled with, because it’s free time — and Aretha does that a lot — where she’s not necessarily singing what would be notated on paper; she’s sort of singing around the notes. There’s no time signature.

But you learn that there are things that she loves to do. She loves making you wait for the next note. It’s leaning into the note and getting as much as you can out of that before you go to the next one.

At the same time that you were learning how to sound like Aretha, you were recording your first album, due out later this year. Was that disorienting?

Slightly, but because I was doing a lot of music, I think it lent itself to me being ready enough to do it. There’s a song on it that’s almost seven years old. There’s a song that’s two years old. And then I wrote songs on Zoom with people. I recorded a lot of it in Atlanta [where Aretha was filmed], in a bedroom in the house I was staying in. My producer in New York would FaceTime me with his computer open, I would have my microphone and computer, and we would do it like that.

Did the events of the past year — Covid, social-justice protests, political upheaval — influence the music?

There were songs I had written a while ago that felt perfect for now, which was a total happy accident. And then there are songs that I wrote specifically because of now, like one called

“Sweet Sarah.” I realized that there are lots of pieces coming out about the world, but I kept thinking about that one person who is in the house alone, who finds energy from being out and seeing people, and who now can’t do that. I wanted something to comfort that person, to let them know that just because you’re by yourself, it doesn’t mean no one is thinking of you.

What have you taken away from this time period personally?

We get to have the serious conversations now. People who haven’t been able to say what is on their mind or in their heart, now they’re digging in and feeling the things that they haven’t wanted to feel before. I think a lot of us walk around hiding the things that we’re too scared to confront. This last year has taught people that if we don’t deal with it now, we never get the chance to deal with it.

Have you had white friends ask you questions around race?

I’ve had a couple of people ask, and my thing is, I’m willing to help if they are willing to genuinely listen. But more than anything, I just wanted to be there for my black friends who were dealing with it. Because I knew they could also be there for me. I’m not American, but when you’re in the skin, it doesn’t really matter where you are.

You’ve been living in the U.S. for a while now. Do you have plans to become an American citizen?

After last year, not being able to vote felt paralyzing. Waiting to see what happens, knowing you’re a part of the community but not quite enough so that you can vote was really tough. So, I would [like to], so I can be an active member of society here. But that will take some time. I’m working toward it. I want to do it in the right way.