Imagine that Pavarotti had actually felt well enough to give his scheduled performance of “Nessun Dorma” at the 1998 GRAMMY’s. It’s likely that nothing remarkable would have happened, Pavarotti probably would have received an obligatory-but-milquetoast standing ovation, and the world would have moved on. But that’s not what happened. Instead, we, the undeserving, were gifted this monstrous performance by the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. It is simultaneously a flawless rendition and a giant “screw-you” to anyone who thinks genre distinctions make something like this impossible. Franklin passed away on August 16, 2018.