Oprah Winfrey is embracing one of her more surprising creative moments, and she has no problem admitting how she feels about it.
During the July 21 episode of Keke Palmer’s podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, the 72-year-old media icon reflected on her 1998 gospel-inspired song “Run On,” which was used as the theme song for season 13 of The Oprah Winfrey Show. She openly expressed her embarrassment while revisiting the track.
“I think I’ve got to run home. Girl, there it is. Stop! Girl! OK, that is one of the mistakes of my career,” Winfrey said in a clip Palmer shared on Instagram.
When Palmer responded by saying, “It’s no mistake. We love it,” Winfrey disagreed and doubled down. “It is a mistake,” she replied.
The story behind the recording was a mix of faith, reflection, and honesty. Winfrey explained that she was considering ending her talk show when a personal spiritual experience encouraged her to continue. “And then I had a little talk with Jesus, and Jesus said, ‘You gotta keep going.’ And so I said, ‘You know, there’s this song. It’s an old spiritual,’” she recalled.
The song was released in 1998 as a single while also serving as the show’s theme. To enhance the track, the production team added a choir. “And so then we thought, we could do it…We could do the whole church choir… Sometimes backup vocals will do that. Sometimes. Oh, yeah. Didn’t work this time,” Winfrey said.
She was also honest about what she believed was the biggest issue with the song. “And then we realized, I can’t sing, even though I took the singing lessons,” she admitted. “It was bad. You know it was bad. You’re just saying that because you’re looking at me right now. It was bad. It was pretty bad.”
The theme song only appeared for one season during The Oprah Winfrey Show’s 25-year run, which lasted from 1986 to 2011.
