Aretha Now does in ten songs what Aretha had spent the first six years of her secular career trying to do: it demonstrates her ability to sing anything and everything. While many of her earlier, pre-Atlantic albums ping-ponged from jazz to Broadway standards to novelty songs—like a person trying a series of keys in a door in an attempt to determine which one will unlock it—Aretha Now is an evolved and effortless-sounding showcase of her range and versatility.

Her talent for not only elevating any song she sang, but to make it completely hers in such a way that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else singing it.