Gospel singer Le’Andria Johnson was recently spotted at a karaoke bar when someone prompted her to sing the beginning of one of R. Kelly’s smash hits.
The 20 second clip captures the “Sunday Best” winner with a mic in her face and someone on the side of her feeding her the lyrics.
In the background, viewers can hear R. Kelly’s tenor ringing out, “Telling me yes … Baby,” on his song, “Bump N Grind,” just before Johnson’s friend says, “I don’t want to hurt nobody.”
Even with the first lines being given to her, the Grammy-winning singer appears to be timid as she leads into the song before eventually gliding up into a resounding gospel run while singing “but there’s one thing I must confess.”
The video cuts off as everyone goes wild at her tackling of the song. However, when it was posted on TikTok, some people questioned whether she really didn’t know the lyrics.
“Now who in the background giving Kirk Franklin….she didn’t need any guidance,” one person joked. A separate comment read, “She ain’t always been saved, she know the lyrics. She sounds amazing which is no surprise.”
“She like [you know] I ain’t supposed to be singing this,” another person wrote, before a fan really broke down her story.
“Y’all just don’t know ‘deliver me’ was written just for her! She know this song,” the person explained.
Johnson is featured on the 2019 song “Deliver Me! (This is My Exodus)” by Donald Lawrence and The Tri-City Singers. On the track, she sings about her desire to be a better person but also how often she’s the most destructive in her life.
Many were impressed with how she used her Gospel voice to capture the runs of an R&B song, writing, “She knew this song cuz ain’t no way you nail that run and spice it up at the same damn time. I love this for her tho.”
”Thank you all for the love,” Johnson replied in the comments.
Her life has been filled with times of severe crisis and glorious triumphs (often short time spans apart). The mother who had been divorced twice and had three kids faced tough times and lost her home to foreclosure just a day before a friend persuaded her to drive to New Orleans in a borrowed car to audition for BET’s “Sunday Best.”
The leap of faith may have been the deliverance that she needed. After winning the show, she would go on to be signed by Mathew Knowles and have one of the most prolific careers in modern-day gospel, a sound that blends the sacred and secular.
While church people have condemned her for her dress, her sometimes potty mouth, and struggles with alcoholism, her fans love her.
Even as she belted out the R. Kelly classic, people not only raved about how her voice gave them “goosebumps” but how her persona is relatable.
“I love this lady bad” one fan simply declared.
“I watched this 1,000 times whew chile!!!” another fans said, with someone backing her up saying, “Me too it’s looping on my phone.”
The icon Johnson hopped into the mix and told her fans, “Thank you all for the Love,” reminding those in the comment section just why she is so beloved.
