It was only a few hours after legendary Aretha Franklin had passed away that Ariana Grande was seen breaking down in tears after her tribute performance on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.’

According to TMZ, Ariana was originally supposed to partake in a comedy skit during her visit on The Tonight Show however, she was asked afterwards to perform an Aretha classic with The Roots.  On this particular visit, Ariana was not scheduled to sing.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmkLo3fnupq/?hl=en&taken-by=fallontonight

 

TMZ reports, “When she arrived on set, producers asked her if she would perform an Aretha song in honour of the late singer. Ariana told them she couldn’t do it … she was just too emotional in the wake of her death. She said Aretha was one of her heroes.”  What changed Ariana’s mind? The Roots’ Questlove.  He then convinced Ariana to perform the hit alongside the house band and Ariana agreed.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmkKupjATRl/?hl=en&tagged=arianaonfallon

 

After an amazing performance of ‘Natural Woman’, Ariana was seen backstage, breaking down in tears – Ariana even received a standing O at the end of her performance.  Following the news of Aretha’s passing, Ariana tweeted this photo with the ‘Queen of Soul.’

 

https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/1030119697784733696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1030119697784733696&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpagesix.com%2F2018%2F08%2F16%2Fariana-grande-breaks-down-after-singing-aretha-franklin-song-on-tonight-show%2F

 

Following her performance, Ariana sat down with pal Jimmy, where the spoke about her new album, Sweetener, Nonna (of course!) and how she knew she was going to marry Pete Davidson when she met him three years ago.  And, Ariana performs a snippet of R.E.M, a track off of Sweetener!

Watch the video below:

 

Filed under: Aretha Franklin, Ariana Grande, The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon