Will You Love Me Tomorrow?

Taylor took the stage at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in a glittering, form-fitting outfit to sing a vibey, electronic-flavored rendition of Rock Hall inductee Carole King‘s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” the 1961 Shirelles No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit King wrote with her first husband, Gerry Goffin, and also recorded for her own Billboard 200 chart-topping Tapestry album in 1971. Buoyed by a chorus of soft-glow backing singers and a lush bed of keyboards, Taylor walked around the stage slowly and deliberately, letting the music and lyrics wash over her. Her performance was honey-smooth and full of admiration and clearly showed she grew up listening to King’s music. She looked thrilled to be singing the song, grinning widely after the first chorus as the crowd screamed its approval, and adding theatrical vocal flourishes here and there for emphasis.

Carole King was even more moved by the performance: The camera panned to her in the audience as the song floated to its end, and King was wiping away tears and gesturing her acceptance and approval to Taylor. King was already a member of the Hall of Fame, as a songwriter inducted alongside Gerry Goffin, but her being voted in as a solo recording artist and performer was still considered long overdue, and Taylor’s elegant remarks, from one era’s preeminent pop songwriter to another’s, helped make it worth the wait: