Chloe Bailey’s Spicy Cover Of Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ Leaves Fans Divided

Juneteenth honors the day the Emancipation Proclamation reached the state and thus marked all slaves as free. First celebrated in Texas, it’s expanded over the years. Indeed, this week President Joe Biden made it a federal holiday. On Friday night, just a day before the holiday, ABC held a Juneteenth TV special, Together We Triumph, that featured performances by Jimmie Allen, Chloe Bailey, and Leon Bridges. By the end of the night, it was clear that Chloe’s performance caught the most attention.

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The singer took to the stage to share her cover of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” during the Juneteenth TV special. Her performance came with a spicy dance routine that left people divided, with some deeming it unfit for the classic soul song. “Idc Chloe Bailey ATE,” one person wrote on Twitter. “Just at the wrong table though—baby it’s Nina Simone [looking eyes emoji].” Others, though, defended what she’d done.

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“Y’all MUST do some research on Nina Simone before saying Chloe Bailey didn’t understand the assignment,” they wrote. “Nina Simone was literally a free-spirited woman.” They added, “Go watch the documentary of Nina on Hulu, then tweet lol.”

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Nina Simone’s granddaughter also chimed in with comments of her own, those of which were in support of Chloe. “Everyone’s coming at @ChloeBailey for her performance of my grandmother Nina Simone’s song ‘Feeling Good,'” she wrote. “But what y’all don’t understand is that grandma was a free spirited woman herself!! She would’ve loved that performance as much as I do! Relax. Chloe killed it. #NinaSimone”

You can watch a clip of Chloe’s performance above and check out more reactions to it below.

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