Jennifer Hudson and Babyface Prove R&B Will 'Never Be Dead,' Compose Songs for Talk Show Audience

Jennifer Hudson and Babyface on 'The Jennifer Hudson Show'
Chris Millard/Warner Bros.

The singers team up to create songs using random phrases from the audience but things quickly go awry!

Jennifer Hudson and Babyface gave her audience a once-in-a-lifetime concert on Friday! The legendary R&B crooner joined the American Idol alum on her daytime talk show, The Jennifer Hudson Showwhere they sat down at the piano to compose some original music aided by the audience.

If you've never heard a smooth ditty about ketchup and mustard, you're definitely in for a treat! The duo duet about everything from hot dogs, burgers, a new way to think of the phrase stop, drop and roll, and a special curveball that will make you more cautious next time you're shopping at the grocery store. 

Elsewhere in the episode, the Girls Night Out singer recalled meeting Stevie Wonder for the first time and feeling incredibly intimidated by the fellow crooner. 

Hudson also took a moment to question Babyface about the recent discourse over whether R&B music is dead. 

Over the summer, Sean "Diddy" Combs kicked off the conversation via Twitter and Instagram live sessions where he posed the controversial question. Although he later clarified that the point of bringing up the topic wasn't to disrespect any artists but to call attention to the genre and hopefully bring more "love, vulnerability, and support" to it, other artists didn't hold back when voicing their opinions on his line of questioning. 

"R&B is never dead," Babyface told Hudson, echoing many of the sentiments shared by other musicians, including Usher. "R&B is in so many things that we listen to today, it just changes over time. But it's not dead and it'll never be dead."

During an appearance on SiriusXM's Bevelations, Usher pushed back against the discourse, adamantly stating that he is "not here for that" kind of conversation. 

"When I hear people say stuff like, 'What happened to R&B?' or 'R&B is dead,' it's not. You just don't understand the basis of it," the 44-year-old explained. "Matter fact, maybe I need a reminder or an understanding of what it is. How can something come out 20-some odd years ago, and then all of a sudden have a resurgence in a way that people just wanna talk about it, sing it, enjoy it? That's because it's classic. That's 'Superstar.' That's R&B."

He added, "So when I do hear people, even like Puff saying 'R&B is dead,' he sounds nuts to me. It sounds crazy, you know, especially knowing he was a pioneer and beneficiary of it. You know, the source that is R&B created the breath of life that was breathed into hip-hop. There would be no hip-hop if there were not R&B. So it's blasphemous to hear people say anything --especially hip-hop cats -- to say anything about R&B. Like nah, it's been there. It's gon' stay there."

RELATED CONTENT