Aretha Franklin's granddaughter, Grace Franklin, is following in her legendary grandmother's footsteps by pursuing a singing career of her own. The "Respect" artist's relative made her official singing debut by appearing on a recent episode of American Idol in front of judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.

"Stop right there. That is your grandma?" Richie said, according to People. 

He continued, speaking highly about his friendship with the 15-year-old's grandmother, revealing he still has some of the voicemails she left him. The "Queen of Soul" died of pancreatic cancer in 2018 at the age of 76.

After Grace performed her rendition of Aretha's "Ain't No Way" and Lauryn Hill's "Killing Me Softly," she, unfortunately, received some disappointing results. Richie and Bryan delivered a no, but she received one yes from Perry. Richie left Grace with some advice, however.

"Grace Franklin, I love you and I think the best thing for you in life is to take a shot at going backwards. Go back and get a running start and come at this again," he said.

Perry pushed her fellow judges to "give her a shot."

"Give her a chance. I am sure Aretha wasn't Aretha when she walked in the room, but somebody said, 'Yes, I want to work with you. I want to develop you. You got something,'" she said.

But Richie didn't budge on his decision, telling her again to "go back and put the shyness behind you and the voice in front of you, you are going to be something amazing."