Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin says upcoming album inspired by end of a relationship

Queen of Soul says she’s in control on new album

DETROIT — The Queen of Soul says she’s taking control of her newest collection.

Aretha Franklin offered a preview Friday of several songs from her forthcoming album, “Aretha: A Woman Falling out of Love,” in a downtown Detroit restaurant. She wrote and produced a few of the songs and is executive producer of the album that’s expected to be released in late March.

She says the collection of a dozen songs was inspired by a relationship she was in a few years ago, which “before you know it it became Aretha, a woman falling out of love.”

She held court at a “high tea listening party” for family, friends, reporters and local dignitaries. One track planned for the album features a recitation by actor Billy Dee Williams that she says is “sizz-LING.”