My Whitney Houston Top 10
Whitney Houston possessed one of the greatest voices in pop music history. She is arguably in the top 10 vocalists of all time and you can easily make an argument that she is # 1 if you really wanted too. It's no over exaggeration to say her voice was truly a gift from God. From 1985 till about 2000 she was the premiere female vocalist in pop music along with Celin Dion and Mariah Carey. Whitney's appeal was broad as well as she could easily slide into Pop, RnB, Adult Contemporary and Gospel with ease and finesse.
Of course, after 2000 things took a dark turn. I'm not here to judge and I definitely can't speak for what she was going through, but there's no mistaking that after the '90s Whitney's presence on the pop charts diminished greatly. On the flip side Whitney's appearances in the tabloids increased, rivaled only by Britney Spears during the 00s. Like Britney, Whitney became the butt of many jokes, especially from Mad TV and SNL throughout the '00s. Sadly Whitney never quite mounted a comeback the way Mariah Carey did in 2005 with The Emancipation of Mimi. That said, Million Dollar Bill, the lead single off Whitney's final album, is extremely underrated and worth a listen if you have never heard it.
I got into Whitney Houston myself in the late 90s when I first got into music. The release of her 1998 album My Love Is Your Love, put her back in the limelight. I remember watching Whitney on an MTV interview with John Morris where she was gearing up for the release of My Love Is Your Love and they did a quick survey of her biggest music videos. Now remember this was before streaming and YouTube and I didn't have Vh1 where I lived in California during the late 90s, so I was at the mercy of MTV for most of my music consumption during that era. So, seeing all these videos back to back was the first time I had seen these videos, even though most of them were just clips, and it also gave me a better understanding of how many hits she had and how many of those hits I actually recognized. I also remember Whitney being pretty funny and on point about her fashion sense and hair from the late 80s. I love at the start when she is walking by all the album artwork for new albums that week and she waves at the Mariah Carey one. I will say all the talk about Whitney’s daughter throughout this interview is heartbreaking in retrospect knowing that both mother and daughter would be dead less than 2 decades later.
Soon after watching that MTV interview I started picking up Whitney's albums used on CD and I ended up owning her self-titled 1985 debut, 1987's Whitney, 1990's I'm Your Baby Tonight and 1992's The Bodyguard Soundtrack. I'll admit Whitney never climbed to the very top of my Pop Diva mountain like Madonna or Janet Jackson did, but I still enjoyed her music greatly, especially her bops like How Will I Know, So Emotional, I'm Every Woman and I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Still I remember thinking Whitney would benefit greatly for a superb Greatest Hits album and in 2000 it felt like that was about to happen. Then I saw the track list at a CD store and disappointment set in. It was a 2 disc collection that split up her ballads onto disc 1 and her dance songs onto disc 2. Now this I actually liked, because I tended to want to hear her bops more on their own, but it's also nice to listen to just the ballads every now and then. The problem though was that disc 2, which had all the dance songs, were all remixed! Now granted the remixes for My Love Is Your Love and It's Not Right but It's Ok had been superior to the album versions and had become the hit single versions as well so their inclusion made sense, but the rest of the disc was a train wreck! Nobody wanted these superfluous remixes of classics like How I Will Know, I Wanna Dance with Somebody or I'm Your Baby Tonight. To this day I still view that Greatest Hits as one of the biggest botched compilations of a superstar ever and a huge missed opportunity.
I also remember Whitney being on the MTV 20th Anniversary special for Pop in 2001 and she was fierce! I love how she kind of threw low key shade at MTV throughout the whole special and called it like she saw it. That special by the way is how I got into Taylor Dayne and Debbie Gibson as well whose greatest hits CDs I purchased in the fall of 2001 as a result. I’ve never been able to find that special again (Nor the one MTV did for Rock,) but I did find all of Whitney’s interview on YouTube so enjoy that!
Now fast forward to college and I am getting back in pop music again after coming out of the closet. My friend Jen loved Whitney Houston even more than I did and we would play her music frequently, especially at dance parties we used to host back then. We also both studied abroad together in London and one day while I was in a music store, I saw Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits. When I looked at the track list I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the European version did away with most of the remixes on disc 2 except for It's Not Right, But It's Ok (which was the hit version so it was fine to stay) and Queen of the Night, which while inferior to the original version was not enough to curb my enthusiasm from buying this version of her Greatest Hits. So 7 years after its initial release I finally got the Whitney Houston Greatest Hits that I deserved. Thank you Great Britain!
Of course, in February of 2012 Whitney Houston tragically died. Like Michael Jackson it was a shocking death that felt too soon even if it was not completely unexpected. Whitney was the second big pop icon of the 80s to die before their time and sadly she wasn't the last as both Prince & George Michael would die tragically as well before the decade was up. After her death I remember seeing Whitney's videos all over MTV2, the news covering her death 24/7, the funeral coverage, celebrity reactions, The Bodyguard going back into theaters and her music seeing a spike in sales and being played all the time again. I too began listening to Whitney's music a lot again myself since whenever an artist dies who I like, I usually binge through their music for a while shortly after their death.
While Whitney was gone too soon, we still have her music, which has continued to grow in popularity. In fact, I can't remember the last wedding I went to that didn't play I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me.) Whitney's greatest legacy will always be her voice & her music and that's pretty much how it should be. The following countdown is my favorite Whitney Houston songs and I'll be upfront, it's mostly her dance songs that I dig the most so there are not many ballads on my countdown. While Whitney's ballads are nice and show off her amazing range, they can be a little interchangeable for me and I find I have to be in the right mood for most of them. Her bops on the other hand are stellar! Whitney's dance songs never get old as far as I am concerned and rank among some of the best pop music ever made.
Again, this list is purely subjective and I know I have left off many of people's favorite songs, but these are the 10 Whitney songs I listen to and have gone back to the most for over 20 years now. While this is not her definitive cannon, it's definitely my definitive cannon. Whenever I am in the mood for Whitney these 10 songs are the ones I reach for. Alright let's do it!
10. I'm Your Baby Tonight
The title track and lead single off Whitney's 3rd album from 1990 represented a slight shift in sound for her. Whitney's first 2 albums were much more pop & adult contemporary and the music was trying to appeal to as many people as possible, which means it was trying to appeal to white middle America. With her third album though Whitney went slightly more RnB, which can be heard in I'm Your Baby Tonight, especially because it was written by RnB superstar in the making Babyface. You can also hear that turn of the decade New Jack Swing influence that was extremely popular around that time too. I'm Your Baby Tonight the single did go # 1, but the album as a whole, while still successful and went 4x Platinum, didn't do as well as her first two albums. Also, despite being a #1 single, I'm Your Baby Tonight, seems to have slipped through the cracks over the years. Unlike most of her other # 1 singles, I don't think I have ever heard this song on the radio in the past 20 years nor have I heard it used in TV or films. I've also never heard it at a wedding either. So, I guess you could say this is a Whitney Houston #1 that is ripe for rediscovery, especially if you love that early 90s New Jack Swing sound like I do.
09. My Love Is Your Love (Remix)
My Love You Is Your Love the album got off to slow start when it was initially released in the fall of 1998. Unlike most of her previous albums it didn't come out of the gate with a huge lead single and it didn't go #1 like most of her albums had. Some declared it a flop by that point, but throughout 1999 that album slowly but surely gained more and more steam on the charts and the singles started doing better and better at radio. One of the reasons for that were the dance remixes for the songs that appealed to radio listeners more than the original and more subdued album versions had. While the original version of My Love is Your Love is a lovely RnB ballad, the dance remix took it up a few notches and helped keep the album on the charts longer than most had originally predicted. It was also another example of how even though people think Whitney's ballads are her bread & butter, her dance tracks actually seem to have more appeal at the end of the day.
08. It's Not Right but It's Ok (Remix)
Like My Love is Your Love, the original version of It's Not Right but It's OK only did OK on radio and MTV, but after the remix the song became a smash! That remix helped this become the definitive single off that album and it feels like one of the last true Whitney classics as a result. The subject matter also connected deeply, which is about Whitney finding out her lover is cheating on her. The remix made that message feel even more powerful and empowering than the original album version had. At the time most assumed this song was about Bobby Brown and I will tell you that public perception back then was that he was the one bringing Whitney down and that she needed to ditch him. Whether that was true or not, it still gave It's Not Right, But It's OK even more appeal as a result. This is a clear case where a dance club remix brought out the best in a song and ended up becoming the version that the general public loves and remembers the most now.
07. I Will Always Love You
This isn't my favorite Whitney Houston song ever (hence the #7 ranking), but it's clearly the one she is most associated with. When Whitney belts out that chorus for the third and final time it was a moment that blew people away. Everyone knew what a great singer she was, but I Will Always Love You cemented that in a way that made Whitney even more legendary at the time and helped her survive the explosion of Gangsta Rap and Grunge during the early 90s. Whenever people need to play a song to explain how good a singer Whitney was after she died, this was the song that they always played first. It's over saturation over the years has probably taken away a bit of the thrill for me with I Will Always Love You, but there's no denying that this song defines Whitney's legacy and legend more than any other.
06. I'm Every Woman
This is actually the first song I ever really heard by Whitney Houston, or at the very least the first song I associated with her. The reason being that back in 1993 I was not listening to much music outside Disney and my parent’s cassette tapes in the car, but I was watching Nickelodeon all the time back then. The Kid's Choice Awards was coming up and the host for the event was Whitney, who ended up hosting it again just a few years later in 1996 as well. While Nickelodeon was promoting the Kid's Choice Awards they would play the music video for I'm Every Woman all the time to hype up that Whitney was going to be the host. So, hearing this song reminds me of living in Virginia and hanging out in my basement watching Nickelodeon all day during the summer when I wasn't playing outside with my friends. It takes me back to a very specific time in my childhood as a result and I think that's partially why I like it so much. Also, as I said I like Whitney's bops the most and this was a great bop that still saw her going more RnB in the '90s than she had been in the '80s. If you do watch the music video look out for the cameo appearances of TLC and Chaka Khan.
05. So Emotional
This upbeat dance number also had a hard rock edge to it thanks to that heavy metal guitar played throughout it. It's easy to forget, but in the late 80s hair metal was huge and it influenced a lot of pop music too (Dirty Diana by Michael Jackson is another example.) Still despite those heavy guitars this is a still a dance pop song meant to appeal to top 40 listeners and it succeeded when the song reached #1 on the charts back in 1988. Also, the light rock station here in D.C. played this song a lot so I heard it a lot more in the '10s than I had before then.
04. I Have Nothing
While I prefer Whitney's bops over her ballads most of the time, I Have Nothing is the BIG exception. I love this song and I will always go to bat for it! Whitney's vocals here are just as good as I Will Always Love You, which means they are at a peak. I also love towards the end where it sounds like the song might end, but instead a key change happens and Whitney just takes to the song up another notch somehow. That moment is both incredible and completely iconic. While there have always been great singers and there will be more great singers in the years to come there will never be another Whitney Houston and I Have Nothing is a testament to that fact.
03. Step by Step
This is one of Whitney's more forgotten singles. It only hit 15 on the pop charts and it came off The Preacher's Wife soundtrack, which while good doesn't seem to have the same cache that the Bodyguard Soundtrack has. That said, this has long been one of my favorite songs by her. This is still a danceable song, but it's bit more subdued and more melancholy compared to her other bops. The song seems to address the idea that while life is hard you have to take things one step at a time and that you have to look forward to the journey ahead more than anything. In retrospect this makes the song hit me harder emotionally knowing that for Whitney the journey ahead was going to get darker and darker until it consumed her. Still this is one her most inspiring songs in my opinion and one of her most overlooked as well.
02. I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
I Wanna Dance with Somebody has aged like a fine wine. I Will Always Love You may be the definitive Whitney song, but I Wanna Dance with Somebody appears to be her most beloved at this point. I hear this one all the time still from radio, to weddings, to movies (Love, Simon most recently) to TV shows (It's used in the pilot of Pose.) Everyone I meet who even likes pop music just a little bit loves this song as well. There's no doubt it's a great dance song and I pretty much loved it from the first time I heard it. I remember dancing to this a lot in college including at the London club GAY before seeing Belinda Carlisle live. I have a lot of memories over the years attached to this song. I Wanna Dance with Somebody really is one of the best pop songs ever written and for most people this would be their #1 Whitney Houston pick, but for me it's going to have to settle for #2.
01. How Will I Know
This was Whitney's first bop after she had a released a few ballads as singles first and proved that not only could she do more than ballads, but that maybe bops were actually what Whitney did best! It's also the Whitney song I loved the most when I first got into her and it still remains tops for me over 20 years later. Sure, I Wanna Dance with Somebody seems to have eclipsed this song to the point that lots of people don't bother with it now, but I still think How Will I Know is the superior of the two songs. I love that main synth/guitar riff so much and the way it leads into that chorus hook. It's so freaking catchy! Also, I love me a good sax solo and How Will I Know sports a great sax solo. In all honesty the sax solo in How Will I Know might be the thing that clinches this as my favorite Whitney Houston song over I Wanna Dance with Somebody, which lacks a sax a solo. Even still while I love both songs, and they both remain my 2 favorite songs by Whitney, How Will I Know just does it for me a little bit more than I Wanna Dance with Somebody. This is one of my favorite pop diva songs ever and I don't ever see that changing. For me this is the Whitney bop to end all other bops period.
