It's not everyday you see a white singer brave enough to belt out a beloved Black song, but that's exactly what happened with Paramore's lead singer Hayley Williams during a recent performance. And let's just say, the response has been...interesting!
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As seen in a now-viral clip, Williams can be seen onstage with fellow singer Remi Wolf as they decided to sing one of Chaka Khan's legendary hit songs, "Sweet Thing. While they both took turns singing parts of the verse and chorus, it was Williams who had to hit the iconic high note in the song and brought a lot of energy to the popular 1975 hit.
Naturally, once the clip began to make its rounds on social media, a lot of Black folks had a myriad of reactions towards Williams' vocals. Now, it should be noted here that there's a very strong, Black fanbase for Williams as her Southern, Mississippi upbringing and consistent pattern of giving Black artists their flowers has garnered her some true ride-or-dies.
"THEY are shocked. WE are not shocked even in the slightest. Hayley been Williams," wrote one user on X/Twitter.
"oh real fans aren't shocked at all! we've been knew she was THAT girl!" said another.
"hayley williams covering chaka chan….it sounds like something out of my dream journal," one other user wrote.
However, for as much love as the performance was getting, she was getting just as much flack as not everybody was onboard with her singing prowess.
"I blame the section of the Internet that's been giving her cookout invites for 8 years. lol" said one user, clearly not feeling it.
"Now show it to Chaka and record her reaction," one other user proposed.
"Are the vocals in the room?" another user questioned.
See Williams' performance below and let us know: did she nail it or should she have passed the mic to somebody else?
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