The musician had been diagnosed with breast cancer was in the middle of chemotherapy when she was asked to perform the song "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin for a tribute to the artist at the Grammy Awards. Etheridge hadn't planned on attending. But, she wrote, "I saw that I could prove to myself that I was alive. That I was okay. That I was going to be okay. That I had the strength to perform. That this breast cancer treatment had not killed me, not knocked me down." Etheridge went to the ceremony and performed the song for Joplin.
