Cynthia Erivo Has a Surprising Sisqó Song on Her List of Favorites: ‘You Can’t Tell Me That’s Not a Great Vocal’

Cynthia Erivo is revealing a surprising Sisqó song as one of her all-time favorite vocal performances.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Erivo, 38, named Sisqó’s “Thong Song” as one of her favorites and cited the R&B singer’s impressive vocals on such an unexpected track.

“Why do you need to sing like this when singing about a thong? The whole end section, the whole end section of this song is so unnecessary,” Erivo said.

The Wicked star loves the sonic drama of the track, in spite of its lyrical simplicity. “You have a key change, there’s a praise break at some point in this. With his voice it’s ridiculous, you don’t need to sing like that. And he does, he’s just enjoying himself and the voice is doing what it’s meant to be doing.”

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After singing along and complimenting Sisqó’s voice throughout, the Tony winner said, “You can’t tell me that that’s not a good vocal because it is a good vocal. That’s a brilliant vocal for a song about a thong. He just keeps going, ‘I don’t think you heard me.’ We did, we heard you. I just love how he uses his voice for something that you wouldn’t expect a voice to be used for.”

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She complimented the rest of the singer’s discography as well. “Now are there other performances of Sisqó’s that merit this? Probably, but I just was like this is the one that didn’t need him to do that and yet he did. Hats off to you Sisqó,” Erivo added.

Among her other favorite vocal performances were Whitney Houston’s rendition of the 1935 classic from the musical Porgy and Bess “I Loves You Porgy,” Jazmine Sullivan’s childhood performance of “Home” from The Wiz, Jennifer Holiday’s “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” Aretha Franklin’s “Dr. Feel Good,” Luther Vandross’s “A House Is Not A Home,” and Beyoncé’s “Resentment.”

Erivo, a powerhouse vocalist herself, already holds an Emmy a Grammy, and a Tony, all for her vocal performances in The Color Purple. She was also nominated for Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars for her role in the musical adaptation of Wicked, and will reprise her lead role as Elphaba Thropp in Wicked: For Good, which will be released in theaters on Nov. 21, 2025.