HATERS HATERS HATERS! OR you're just simply tone deaf, I just listen to Ms Christina A. and she literally butcherd the song in every way...... Ms Beyonce" looked great as usual and sung great as usual ...... sheer perfection but why comparing? If you are a beyonce fan you will love it, and If you not a fan and a hater cause she beautiful and ambitious OH WELL!

Tyler: your comments are full of worn-out adjectives and I kept looking for something more since you claim to have an opinion about Beyonce's singing. The laughable distinction between performing and emoting is some introductory cliche.
Beyonce performed as an ultimate, consumate artist, period!

Leela James is the LADY for this job...now! I said it.

It's good enough. But it does lay bare the real problem with Beyonce as a singer: she performs, not emotes. There isn't an ounce of subtletly or any shading. She beats the meaning of the song into you. She doesn't trust the audience to feel her, or doesn't care

Wig check dress check audience check tone....tone....I said ahem tone...
Missing...Yes Beyonce can technically sing but her tone is non existent I think when covering people like Etta you have to be real and not a pageant girl. Just sayin

B sang very nicely and sweetly. She doesn't have a real soulful voice -- which I would think you need to have to play Etta James. Beyonce has a technically perfect / robotic style to me.
Like there's no "there... there".
Is Etta James not well? Or have I just not seen her a lot lately.. she's lost a lot of weight.

While I didn't think it was a bad rendition, I definitely think she sounded out of her league. Of couse she can sing, but she just didn' t have the raw soul to pull this off, IMHO. For the record Just was also outta his league singing Marvin Gaye (this ish was damn near blasphemous) and so was Chris Brown singing Sam Cooke. But I did like the show it was just that in comparison to the singers they were singing it was just glaring 2nd rate. For some odd reason, even though I would have vetoed it on paper - I was actually kind of feeling Kid Rock and MJB singing I'm Loosing You; go figure...

Christina Aguilera did a rendition of this very song a while back. Her version was WAAAAY better! NO disrespect to B, but lets be honest here. she holds no comparison to Stina's version..

I don't know, Beyonce has the ambition of the Diana, without any of the raw talent.

Thanks, QH. That gave me enough LOLs to last me for a few days. Beyonce has so much more raw talent than Diana ever had. I hope your comment was a joke.

Wonder how she feels knowing that Etta isn't thrilled about B portraying her in the film.

Maybe it's just me, but I wasn't really feeling this. Felt her voice wavered when she went into the lower registers towards the end. And Beyonce is always on point with her singing; so polished, but at the end of 'at last' I was glad it was over 'at last'. Definitely not her kind of music. And yes, she put her flavor into it here and there, but like one of you said, it wasn't as 'rich' as Etta...

Beyonce's had the opportunity to honor at least two icons on this show: Tina Turner and now Etta. (and then she practically became Diana-esque in 'Dreamgirls') That's pretty cool for her. I wonder who will one day forge 'her' star and give 'her' props for her 'iconic' status? Hmmmmm....

OK, she did do the song justice, for her. I'll give her that.

What bothers me, is that this another mirrored attempt at Diana Ross icon status a la Billie Holiday via "Lady Sings the Blues." I don't know, Beyonce has the ambition of the Diana, without any of the raw talent.

But, she has her following, and I can respect her doing her thing. Maybe someday it will be more of a reflection of herself, and not the same steps Diana took to immortalizing herself.-QH

Bey can sing...I really do believe that. But she is NO Etta....I would have much preferred her singing it in her own style rather than trying to sound like Etta with Bey mixed in...and I'm not feeling her trying to promote the movie by wearing the wig (then switching to her other hair later in the evening).....me thinks she's trying to hard to promote the movie, which I'm not holding my breathe on about her acting....

LOL... I'm feeling like a prouder daddy that Papa Knowles himself right now. Beyonce definitely killed this. I can't wait to see what her third album is like, especially after B'Day, which I absolutely loved.

@ anelewis: She had to gain weight for Cadillac Records, but then had to lose 20 pounds for that new stalker flick she's in (forget the name). So that's why she's back at the regular weight.

Mmmm...it's fine. Nothing special. It's really hard to do a cover that can even compare to something as timeless as Etta's "At Last." Beyonce's voice just isn't as rich as Etta. Good effort though, B. For what it was, I good.

Loved the dress. Not feeling her jumping into character to give the tribute but her performance was great.

Beyonce is a beautiful sista. She does a great job with the song. Despite the short due, (and so called weight gain), I don't see Etta fully... a lil... mostly still see Bey with a new do! LOL I hope she can carry off the role though. I'm rooting for her. (That dress is hot!)