Chloe Bailey Performs Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” For Juneteenth

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For the second year in a row, ABC News aired their primetime special to honor the history and tradition of Juneteenth. The special, ABC Soul of The Nation, brought some of the biggest names in Black Hollywood to participate in the now annual programing. Chloe Bailey was among those asked to perform and took the stage for a rare solo performance without her sister, BFF, and group mate, Halle Bailey.

Rocking a sequined, black mesh one-piece, the oldest Bailey sister shocked and captivated viewers when she continued her trend of covering popular songs and performed Nina Simone’s 1965 classic, Feeling Good, putting her own unique spin on it. Channeling Beyoncé in everything from her walk to her sexy dance moves and her clothing choice, Chloe hit some intense choreography in front of a moonlit stage and instantly started trending on social media.

While some viewers loved Chloe’s rendition of Simone’s hit and praised the Beyoncé influence, others called out the singer’s performance for being too sexy for the tone of the programming and song choice.

Despite the backlash, Nina Simone’s granddaughter, RéAnna Simone Kelly, supported Chloe’s performance and took to Twitter to share her appreciation. “Everyone’s coming at @ChloeBailey for her performance of my grandmother Nina Simone’s song Feeling Good. But what y’all don’t understand is that grandma was a free-spirited woman herself!!” she tweeted. “She would’ve loved that performance as much as I do! Relax. Chloe killed it. #NinaSimone.”

https://twitter.com/reasiimone/status/1406131557056745474

RéAnna then doubled down on her Chloe Bailey support, saying, “If grandma could she probably would’ve done that performance herself.”

https://twitter.com/reasiimone/status/1406132662880796676

With RéAnna’s support, Twitter continued discussing Chloe’s performance well after it aired with many fans coming to Chloe’s defense, such as this user who pointed out the clear influence of Beyoncé.

And then this user joked about how Nina Simone was watching Chloe do her thing.

https://twitter.com/TaraAng1111/status/1406094766580842497

And then there was this user, with the mic drop.

And, this user broke it down for anyone who’s ever doubted who and what Nina Simone was about.

But, of course, there were some fans who felt otherwise about the performance:

https://twitter.com/peaches07/status/1406143523234123779

Check out Chloe’s performance for yourself. Did she kill it or not?