Dionne Warwick on social media fame and collaborating with Chance the Rapper

No matter who you are or what decade you were born in, odds are you're either a big fan of Dionne Warwick or at least familiar with some of her songs, such as I Say a Little Prayer and Walk On By.

But even if you're too young to know either of those massive pop hits, the five-time Grammy-winning diva has been everywhere in pop culture, from People's list of 100 Reasons to Love America to trending on Twitter for being witty, direct and calling out other musicians about their stage names — and subsequently garnering the moniker the "queen of Twitter."

Warwick joined Q's Tom Power for a chat about her new-found social media fame and decade-spanning pop music career.

What are the chances?

Last December, Warwick was curious about a few things, so she took to Twitter to get some answers. 

She called out Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd about misspelling his stage name.

But shortly before that, Chance the Rapper was on the list for his alias.

"I wanted to know," said the 80-year-old, laughing. "And it was so wonderful because [Chance the Rapper] responded, and we have subsequently struck up a wonderful friendship." 

In fact, the two just finished recording music together, she said, which should be available around the end of August or first part of September.

Navigating the not-so-social medium

Warwick is clearly social media savvy and has found new collaborations because of it, but she feels people have forgotten how to be "really social."

"This multimedia is unfortunately the way of the world right now," she said. "But it has taken away, I feel, the fuzziness of people, you know, getting to really know people, picking up a telephone and saying hello as opposed to sending a text or an email or anything of that nature."

Even the music industry has drastically changed, said the icon, but what she is most proud of is her longevity, which she doesn't attribute to her being able to navigate new media but to her decision to stay true to herself, even when ample opportunities to change genres were on the table.

"It's quite something to build from decade to decade and still be viable," she said.

The full interview with Dionne Warwick is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Written by Vanja Mutabdzija Jaksic. Interview produced by Tyrone Callender.