Melissa Etheridge got a strange feeling when her management team called her one morning this past February.

She didn't know yet that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had just announced its 2026 nominees, and her management rarely calls when she's not expecting.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, what's this?'" she recalls thinking. "They're either firing me or it's really good news."

Melissa has attended the Rock Hall induction ceremony before, including in 1995 when she inducted Janis Joplin, but she tells Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke that she didn't spend much time thinking about her own career fitting a Hall of Fame context.

Something changed in that regard in recent times, she admits. When the nominees would be announced each winter, she wondered if she would ever get the call. The same call that came in this past winter.

"I've been eligible for about 12 years now, which is fine," Melissa says. "Every year, it's that thing in the sky. You can't do anything to get in. You just hope that people recognize your body of work. This year, it was like, wow, it really got into me. I wept a little.

"It was like, wow, this means a lot more to me than I thought it would. And it does, it means a lot to be recognized like that."

Check out the full conversation via the player above!

A trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be a fitting capper to a busy year for Melissa. She has a North American tour running through September and a new album, Rise, available everywhere Friday, March 27.

Watch the official music video for Melissa's new single, "Bein' Alive," via the player below!

Vote here for Melissa Etheridge to make the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2026.

Kristin Lessard & Steve Kelly