‘Tis the season for dance recitals. A 6-year-old girl, Johanna Colon, went viral after performing an exceptionally sassy rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” Johanna’s mom, Elissa, shared this video of her daughter working it harder than her classmates. The other little girls were bemused by Johanna, who’s grown fixated upon the “Queen of Soul.”
Johanna’s spunky dance became a hit after her mother posted “for family and friends” to Facebook. In an interview with WRAL Raleigh, Elissa said Johanna had never heard Aretha’s classic tune until she started dance class this year. She “really doesn’t totally understand” what it means to go viral on the internet, but Johanna’s taking the attention well. Of her performance, she said, “I thought I was really spicy.”
Johanna and her mom appeared on Today after the video racked up 20 million views. The little girl listens to Aretha on Pandora every day: “Ooh, she’s got a lot of sass, mommy.”