Ahead of the forthcoming official biopic ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ of the late Whitney Houston, the diva’s record company and estate have released the film’s 35-song soundtrack.
While the track-listing of the new set mostly just constitutes of her older recordings and remixes of well-known songs, there are a few tracks that truly stand out on their own.
One of those is the reimagining of her 1994-live performance of the song ‘Don’t Cry For Me’.
Houston had performed the Gospel song, originally recorded by her friend CeCe Winans, for a 1994 AIDS benefit concert – but it had never been released officially, except from what was heard through bootlegs.
The live performance has now been packed into a studio production, courtesy of the singer’s past collaborator Rodney Jerkins AKA Darkchild, who created the hit song ‘It’s Not Right, But It’s Okay’ with the diva in 1999.
Serving as the highlight of the 35-piece-set, this emotionally exhilarating track gives a shining example of Houston’s powerful and soulful vocals while also serving as an ode to her own story, due to it’s poignant lyrics.
Darkchild brings to life the live performance by putting together the isolated vocals in such a way that it transforms into a phenomenal tour-de-force studio creation. Her vocals remain raw, gritty and untouched – but the orchestral production transforms it into a brand new song on it’s own.
With the ongoing Oscar buzz surrounding the film, while this may not necessarily quality for the ‘Best Original Song’ category considering it’s not an original song written for the movie, but it certainly reeks of great Grammy-potential, if planted on the right category.
This also opens up the possibilities of more such releases from the singer’s estate in the future, with reimagined takes on her past live performances – particularly her live covers of other singers’ songs.
Considering the fact that Houston was one of those rare singers who gave her own meaning and life to songs by other artists, possibilities are truly endless for the music her fans may receive in the future.
For now, this song has the potential to do what Higher Love’s remix by Kygo did for Houston and her estate in 2019.