--- description: Franklin sang at the Kennedy Center Honors in D.C. and absolutely nailed it. title: Watch Obama Tear Up as Aretha Franklin Sings 'Natural Woman' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch President Obama Tear Up at Aretha Franklin's 'Natural Woman' Performance by [Jessica Goodman / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jessica Goodman / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 30, 2015 3:13 PM CUT by [Jessica Goodman / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Jessica Goodman / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 30, 2015 3:13 PM CUT Aretha Franklin brought the house down at the Kennedy Center Honors in D.C. Tuesday night when she sang “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” for the crowd, which included President and Michelle Obama. Though the camera caught an emotional reaction from Carole King, who co-wrote the song and was being honored at the ceremony, POTUS was shown wiping away a tear as Franklin ran through the classic 1968 hit. Franklin was just one star who paid tribute to King’s long career. John Kerry and Paul Anthony Stewart spoke about her legacy, Chilina Kennedy and Scott J. Campbell from [Broadway’s _Beautiful_ ](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/22/beautiful-carole-king-musical-film-adaptation "undefined")performed “So Far Away,” Janelle Monae sang “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “One Fine Day,” James Taylor belted “Up On The Roof,” and Sara Bareilles hit “You’ve Got a Friend.” A tribute cast then sang “I Feel The Earth Move.” [Other honorees](http://www.cbs.com/shows/kennedy%5Fcenter%5Fhonors/ "undefined") included Cicely Tyson, Seiji Ozawa, The Eagles, George Lucas, and Rita Moreno. See the [full show over at CBS](http://www.cbs.com/shows/kennedy%5Fcenter%5Fhonors/video/ "undefined"). _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/30/aretha-franklin-obama-natural-woman "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://ew.com "undefined")_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4164132/president-obama-tears-up-aretha-franklin-performance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4164132/president-obama-tears-up-aretha-franklin-performance/"},"headline":"Watch President Obama Tear Up at Aretha Franklin's 'Natural Woman' Performance","datePublished":"2015-12-30T15:13:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:41:37.571Z","description":"Franklin sang at the Kennedy Center Honors in D.C. and absolutely nailed it","url":"https://time.com/4164132/president-obama-tears-up-aretha-franklin-performance/","keywords":["Music","President Obama","Aretha Franklin"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Goodman / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4164132/president-obama-tears-up-aretha-franklin-performance/","name":"Watch President Obama Tear Up at Aretha Franklin's 'Natural Woman' Performance"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions with Aretha Franklin","description":"The Queen of Soul talks about giving Detroit a little respect. Aretha Franklin will now take your questions","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xRZCitbW/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2010-02-19T22:36:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xRZCitbW.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4164132/president-obama-tears-up-aretha-franklin-performance/","duration":"PT4M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4164132/president-obama-tears-up-aretha-franklin-performance/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```