Cynthia Erivo: How The ‘Music Geek’ Prepared For Her Emmy Nominated Portrayal Of Aretha Franklin

hollywoodlife.com:

Cynthia Erivo is revealing how intently she studied Aretha Franklin before she portrayed the legend for the National Geographic mini-series about the singer’s life.

The 34-year-old Brit – who has been nominated for an Emmy for her starring role in Genius: Aretha – says she researched everything from the Queen of Soul’s speech patterns to when she took a breath when singing her hits. “It [was] definitely a big challenge just because of how much of learning needed to happen,” Cynthia tells HollywoodLife. “I am a bit of a music geek so, when I had to learn music, because I had to learn it the way she would sing it, I would sit for hours and hours and learn the songs. “And, it wasn’t just about learning the lyrics, and not just about learning