Maya Rudolph on Doing Impressions of Beyoncé While Being a Fan of Her: ‘I’m in Awe of Her’

Rudolph’s most recent impression of the “Cowboy Carter” singer was on the Mother’s Day episode on ‘Saturday Night Live.’

Maya Rudolph can’t stop gushing about Beyoncé.

In an interview with the New Yorker published on Tuesday, the former Saturday Night Live actress, 51, who has parodied the 42-year-old singer on the show, discussed Bey’s latest album, Cowboy Carter, and her evolution as an artist.

“I’m in awe of her. She has evolved as an artist so much over the years. That is probably the reason that I’ve been able to go back to that well of keeping up with somebody who’s getting better over time and constantly changing the game,” Rudolph told the magazine.

“When I was growing up, it was Madonna. It was always terribly exciting to see what Madonna was going to do next. I grew up with MTV, and MTV was Madonna’s palace,” she added. “It was the place where she was able to create and constantly change. Her styles were different, the eras were different. It was always so fucking exciting.”

Rudolph said that although Cowboy Carter informed her latest impersonation of Beyoncé, such as the one on SNL’s Mother’s Day episode, she admitted that she compartmentalizes her work as an actress and member of the BeyHive.

“There are two ‘me’s’. I am still a person who loves and listens to Beyoncé, but then at my job I get to play her sometimes. I had no idea that that album was coming in the way that it did,” Rudolph said. “For an artist at her level and at this stage in her career to have a clear conversation about racism in America and her personal experience, I didn’t know that was coming. I was so floored by it.”

“Just musically, it’s quite incredible and extremely different than Beyoncé’s other albums. Where she is now as a vocalist compared with where she started, it’s fucking mind-blowing. None of that’s funny, you know what I mean? That’s why I’m saying I’m two people,” she added.

She continued, “I’m still somebody who was raised in music, loves music, cares about good music. Anybody who knows me is so sick of my talking about real artists, people who can really sing, really play instruments. My kids are exhausted by it. But those are the things that move me.”

The Bridesmaids star told Jimmy Kimmel last month that Beyoncé had seen the impression of her in-person, which Rudolph found “embarrassing.”

“I believe that Fred Armisen wrote a ‘Prince Show’ for me to do Beyoncé and while she was there, but I believe she declined. Then at ‘good nights’ you have to stand next to the person you just did an impression of. She was very sweet about it,” Rudolph said on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“All I said was ‘I’m so sorry,’ it’s so embarrassing, you know what I mean? She knows that my impression is filled with love and how much I love her but it’s still embarrassing to do anything in front of the person and she said ‘No, it was good.’ She was very sweet.”