Soul Sister 2000

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

Aretha Franklin's forthcoming CD, A Rose Is Still a Rose, is the 55-year-old singer's first album in seven years and her finest in two decades. Rose, due out March 10, boasts an all-star squad of producers, including Sean ("Puffy") Combs (who's worked with rapper the Notorious B.I.G.), Jermaine Dupri (Mariah Carey, Usher), and Lauryn Hill (of the hip-hop band the Fugees). Still, this is Aretha's show. Numbers like the cardiotonic title track urge female self-esteem; another song, the sweetly epiphanous ballad Love Pang, links the everyday chores of life to recollections of romance. Franklin talked with TIME in her hometown of Detroit.

TIME: Some fans might be surprised to hear the Queen of Soul singing hip-hop.

Franklin: I'm a very versatile vocalist. That's what I think a singer should be. Whatever it is, I can sing it. I'm not a rock artist. But I've done some rocking. I love the Puffy song [Never Leave You Again] on my album. It's very jazzy, very cool, very easy.

TIME: You haven't given a full-length interview to TIME, or almost anybody else, in 30 years. You're also working on a memoir with music writer David Ritz. Why are you speaking out now?

Franklin: There have been a number, not a lot, of inaccuracies about my career, and me. I think it's time to correct the record. One of the main things--and this happened with TIME in 1968...

TIME: Don't blame me for that. I was only a year old in 1968.

Franklin: You're younger than me, then. Anyway--one of the worst things that was ever said in my career was that my mother had deserted my family. That simply is not true. My mother was a very respectable person. We were with her regularly, whenever she was supposed to be there. So that really pissed me off, pardon my expression.

TIME: Why do you live in Detroit?

Franklin: I like the camaraderie of the people. It's a real community. I met [Detroit Pistons basketball star] Grant Hill once. I was outside the locker room after a game. I told someone to tell him Janet Jackson was outside.

TIME: Are there any singers out there who you think really represent the future?

Franklin: [Erykah] Badu is a very good vocalist. I like her wit. She's kind of a cross between Diana Ross and Billie Holiday. Mariah Carey has done some things I like. Her vocals and production have a very tight quality.

TIME: You work with some younger performers on this album. As a veteran, did you have any words of wisdom for, say, an up-and-comer like Lauryn Hill?

Franklin: I was ripped off here and there when I was younger... So I told Lauryn nobody is going to tell you anything in the recording industry. So you have to investigate a lot, you have to surround yourself with good people, managers, agents and such who have your best interests in mind. I also thought her generation should give our generation a big party--annually--because we put out so much information for them and they are capitalizing on it.

TIME: Your songs are often about painful relationships. Have your own relationships with men been painful?

Franklin: I write a lot of songs. I don't just sit around and write songs about pain... I could go back today to any man I've been with. I'm friends with, or could be friends with, all of them.

TIME: Will you ever get married again?

Franklin: Of course. I've already selected my gown. I'm just kidding. And then again, perhaps it's better not to be committed. I just see that women today are being abused so badly--verbally and physically--you wonder about getting married.

TIME: Your voice sounds better than it has in years. What's your secret?

Franklin: I stopped smoking in 1991. It helped my voice tremendously. The clarity and everything. The range even increased.

TIME: You're developing a television movie about the life of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, whom you met when you were a teenager. Whom would you like to play you in the movie?

Franklin: I want someone who bears some kind of resemblance to me, as close as possible. I thought maybe Toni Braxton. She looks very much the way I did at 17. With a little less makeup and another hairstyle, she could do it. I thought she or Halle Berry, visually, would be the closest look to what I looked like when I was 17.

TIME: Your fear of flying is legendary. Are you still afraid to travel by plane?

Franklin: I did a lot of things [to help get over the phobia] that have not worked yet, because I am still not flying. So I set it to the side--I enjoy my custom bus. You can pull over, go to Red Lobster. You can't pull over at 35,000 feet.