Chloe Bailey of Chloe x Halle set New York’s Times Square ablaze with a sizzling performance for Good Morning America‘s Summer Concert Series on Monday (June 21). The singer took on Nina Simone’s 1965 classic “Feeling Good.”
Dressed in a sequined outfit, the singer kicked off low and slow, letting her vocals take center stage on screens around the famed district. Bailey then dials up the heat several notches when the music kicks in, adding a sultry touch by gyrating to the music, her voice adding richness to the song, powerfully and confidently belting out, “And I’m feeling good!”
Bailey had earlier performed the same song on June 19 for ABC’s Soul of the Nation special. In that set, the singer delivered a sparkling and steamy performance that garnered some criticism from fans for being sexy. But in Bailey’s corner was ReAnna Simone Kelly, the late singer’s granddaughter.
“Everyone’s coming at @ChloeBailey for her performance of my grandmother Nina Simone’s song ‘Feeling Good’. But what ya’ll don’t understand is that my grandma was a free spirited woman herself!!” Kelly tweeted. “She would’ve loved that performance as much as I do! Relax. Chloe killed it.”
“Grandma was unapologetically herself. She was a muhhhf—– bada– woman who did what she wanted when she wanted,” Kelly added. “She was a sexual woman and she expressed that. Educate yourselves !! If grandma could she probably would’ve done that performance herself.”
Ahead of her GMA performance, Bailey talked about her interpretation of the song, which appears on Liberated – Music For the Movement Volume 3, as well as the Friday set.
“I have always loved Miss Nina Simone forever. And the performance was inspired by her spirit and her confidence and her honesty,” she told the morning show. “I worked incredibly hard to put it all together. I still have scrapes and bruises from all the rehearsals. I’m just so happy to see that her granddaughter loved it. I’m happy that people loved it as well.”
Watch her Good Morning America interview and performance below:
