Whitney Performs ‘Million Dollar Bill’ On X-Factor

Published: Sunday 18th Oct 2009 by Sam

Legendary diva and comeback queen Whitney Houston took to the stage on tonight’s X-Factor results show to perform new single ‘Million Dollar Bill (Freemasons Mix)’. As with most things ‘Whitney’ these days, her appearance on the show was almost exclusively the main talking point on everybody’s lips.

As for the actual performance, I really, really enjoyed this. Ms. Houston commanded that stage like the unashamed diva that she is. Work! Her  energy and overall stage presence were so off-the-charts that they compensated for the still-rather-good (for 2009 Whitney) vocals. In what I hope doesn’t become a big deal, Nippy’s ‘wardrobe malfunction’ was in reality a minor and she continued on like the professional she is, poking fun at it at the end.

The interview at the end, upon watching it live, had me (and a whole lot of other folk) giving a collective ‘What in the blue hell?’ For whatever the reason, Ms. Houston wasn’t quite ‘with it’, this evidenced by her not having much of  clue when the album was to be released, the constant looking at the floor, fidgety composure, and the lengthy gap in answering some of the questions. That said, I do not agree with some of whispers-turned-loud accusations that Whitney is back to her troubled times. I strongly doubt it’s that. I guess only she know’s the reading. However, after talking everything there is to talk about with Oprah, it’d be great if her team did a Britney Spears and limit the talking/doing interviews and have her just perform.

What do you think of the performance?

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  1. Anonymous October 18, 2009

    a mess!

  2. Napaul October 18, 2009

    Great performance! She sounded good and full of energy. Even though her dress strap came apart, she definately heald it together and gave a great and entergetic performance! Go Whitney!!!!!!!

  3. Anonymous October 18, 2009

    the best performance I have seen of the song!!

  4. Anonymous October 18, 2009

    a hot ass b**** still on crack cant sing for s*** mess!!! i love whitney but this performance was terrible!! she looked like she was on that stuff again!! omg cant believe this!!

  5. Anonymous October 18, 2009

    there was nothing wrong with the performance.. only thing i disliked was the high notes at the end that the backing track did instead of her.. besides that she looked great, sounds good.. not great or perfect.. but damn people there is chicks in the game now that cant sing like that or even half as good as that performace.. give the woman some slack a little we all know with age the voice goes off and yeah her problems was also a factor.. but she is working with what she still has.. & it seems to be working just fine.. Cant wait for the tour.. P.S. a true fan would appreaciate that the woman is healthy and striving day by day to maintain a healthy lifestyle.. not be thrown under the bus… smh.. Go Whit..

  6. Napaul October 18, 2009

    You sound stupid and ignorant! It’s sad that moderators don’t monitor assinine comments! You were great! Go Nippy!

  7. ms jazz October 18, 2009

    whitney is slowly but coming back. loks healthy and happy

  8. Kavanagh87 October 18, 2009

    i thought she was absolutely AMAZING … the best comeback performance she has done so far … even the Janet moment was handled like a true professional … LOVE IT x

  9. vizionwarp October 18, 2009

    SHE PULLED THROUGH AND WAS HELLA ENERGETIC..Yes she had mistakes but she didnt let them, stop her

  10. ant October 18, 2009

    she looked good, loved the hair and earrings! she sounded better here when trying to belt the notes and stuff, voice sounded stronger, but she sounded somewhat winded during the verses

  11. Island_Boy_DC October 18, 2009

    OMG…Whitney Sounded Amazingggg And Look Faboloussssssss…Her Entire Look, Energy, Vocal, Stage Present Was On Fiyahhhhhh!…I Love Her New CD….And Cannot Wait For Her Tourrrrr…The Voiceee Babyyyy!…Whitney Can Still Stand Her Ground In This So Ever Changing Music Industry!

  12. Jmoore October 18, 2009

    Whitney is on the comeback. every performace she gets better and better. I hope she tours in the U.S. Good Job Whitney!

  13. Stoney-Brie October 18, 2009

    WHITNEY DID HER THANG!!!!!!!
    I LOVED THE PERFORMANCE
    SHE IS STILL COMING BACK
    THE VOICE IS THERE!!!!!
    I CAN’T STOP WATCHING THIS!!!

  14. cute773 October 18, 2009

    Okay W whats going on with the voice put the f****** smokes down !!!

  15. Jordan October 18, 2009

    No doubt in my mind that this was the BEST performance of Whitney’s new era! I was so moved by the energy and the strength of her vocals. Whitney is back.

  16. Anonymous October 18, 2009

    GREAT performance, really really good. Totally uplifting song, completely uplifting performance. She had a good time, the audience had a good time, she looked so happy on stage, it was all brilliant! Couldn’t fault it.

  17. New York October 18, 2009

    i actually i liked it go whitney

  18. GeeMan October 18, 2009

    Even though I still don”t like the song. I feel like the energy sold the performance of the song. This was best performance of the song thus far, I feel like the voice is in great shape considering where Whitney was about a year ago. No complaints about the backing track because everyone uses them nowadays for time purposes. But overall a good showing. Nothing for me to go crazy over but I appreciate what I got.

  19. gina October 18, 2009

    I thought that she did fine. I liked that they used parts of the Freemasons remix in the song, loved the dancers, loved her look- can i say that she looked amazing- loved her stage presence- she sure did work the stage-

    I can tell that her vocals are getting stronger, vast improvement from GMA, she seemed to be having fun, LOVED her diva entrance, the crowd was crazy for her. It was just unfortunate about her dress but she handled it well- like a pro, that would have unnerved me.

    Love me some Whitney, she kept it real re her comments about the contestants…practice, practice, practice.

  20. gina October 18, 2009

    oops, i’m not from the uk but i saw these stats and looks like her album will do well in the uk as well:

    Amazon.co.uk charts: “I Look To You” #3 (pre-order) “Ultimate Collection” #29 “Million Dollar Bill” #4

    UC still at #2 ILTY still at #11 – on the uk iTUNES ALBUM CHARTS
    ATMTIN #74

  21. Anonymous October 18, 2009

    omg,she has such good stage prescence. I love her. the album has such good hits, can’t wait for her to release more singles

  22. SImply October 18, 2009

    Wow! Her voice is getting better and better, with time she will be back, but I can’t wait to see what your review will be Sam.

  23. Anonymous October 18, 2009

    It was ok not great but still love her

  24. Anonymous October 18, 2009

    Can you say D-I-V-A at that entrance!!! Whitney killed it!! Go Whitney!!! Amazing Performance, I am speechless, it was sooooooo good!!

  25. Khalil October 18, 2009

    That performance was hot!! She worked that stage!!! Nothing was wrong with her besides the fact that she was tired when she was done performing. Once she works out for her upcoming tour she will have that together. She is coming back and she is on fire. Go Whitney!

  26. gina October 18, 2009

    well Whitney is still selling: I Look to You is now #1 on the UK Itunes album charts and her greatest hits , ‘ Ultimate Collection’ is #5- that is an amazing feat to have 2 albums in the top 5 and the single mdb is #8

    I have to say i’m impressed- i wasn’t expecting this.

  27. Peter October 18, 2009

    Love, love, love it. She is definitely getting her swagger back. She is comfortable doing her ad libs and her voice no longer breaks. I can’t wait to see her in London. You can tell that Whitney is working hard, and of course she always sings better in front of Clive. One last vice to kick and that is cigarettes. Then the scratchiness will go away and she will have more energy. But, I will rather hear her natural sound, then to have her lipping.

  28. Ann October 18, 2009

    @Annoymous at 1:59 p.m., Whitney used back trackings when she sung I’m Your Baby Tonight live. So this is nothing new. Whitney is getting her groove back and you gotsta give it to her. Everybody says that they don’t expect Bodyguard vocals, but evidently they do. Whitney will get back to her 1999 vocals, trust me.

  29. DONTAZZ October 18, 2009

    The voice is coming back..I can tell shes been working on it…theres been a progression since GMA..IM loving Whitney right now shes showing these girls how U come back and STAY in this industry over 20 years and still release good music! Some people cant get past their 4th album…and im SOOOOO glad to see her happy and healthy most of all!!

  30. the truth October 18, 2009

    MORE REHEARSAL TIME WAS NEEDED ON THIS. I THINK FROM THE DANCER’S TWEETS SHE ONLY REHEARSED THIS ONCE TODAY JUST BEFORE THE BROADCAST. SHE AD LIBBED A LOT AFTER HER WARDROBE MALFUNCTIONED AND CAME OFF HALF DECENT. IT OBVIOUSLY THREW HER OFF.. KEEP IN MIND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SHE PERFORMED THIS RENDITION WHICH IS THE FREEMASON’S REMIX VERSION, NOT THE CD VERSION SHE NORMALLY DOES. SO VOCALS AND MOVEMENTS ARE DIFFERENT. SHE MADE A MISTAKE AT THE START BUT AD LIBBED IT WITH SHORTER “OHHH’S” THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. FEW WORDS IN THE LYRICS WERE SUNG INCORRECTLY. SHE DIDNT HIT THE LAST BIG OHHHH BEFORE THE FINISH WHICH THE BACKING TRACK PLAYED OVER. BETTER THAN CHERYL COLE’S FLAT PERFORMANCE EVEN WITH THE MINOR ERRORS. STAGE PRESENCE WAS GOOD THO.. SHE NEEDED MORE REHEARSAL TIME WITH THE REMIX VERSION.

    THE INTERVIEW WAS A BIT OFF ESP. THE MISTAKE OF ALBUM RELEASE, LOL. EVEN THO THE US RELEASED IT AUG 31ST SHE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN UK’S RELEASE IS MONDAY OCT 19. SHE GOT SLAMMED ON THAT AS BEING HIGH. HER COMMENT ON CONTESTANTS WAS FAIR AND HONEST UNLIKE THE USUAL ASS KISSING BY “DIPLOMATIC” GUEST CELEBS. OVERALL 3/5 STARS.

  31. gina October 18, 2009

    ILTY is now #1 on the UK Itunes chart-and ultimate collection #5

    MDB #6 album cut
    MDB Free MAsons remix #43 on uk itunes singles-

    fantastic showing.
    @the truth: fair review- the album date I can understand because most of these big stars including mariah have different release dates for different territories and she is off to Italy on wed- i suspect that she doesn’t pay attention to these details like she said in a recent radio interview, ‘i have too much things to be worried bout to twitter or whitter’ gotta love her.

    It’s just sad that she is in a no win situation with bloggers and some media- if she just stood and sang, they would say that she is stoned and have no stage presence, she goes out there hyped and delivers a very energetic performance working with the dress length and the malfunction and people focus on the dame interview which fed off the stupid malfunction and being winded.

    Thank god that most of her fans don’t twitter or read blogs and still appreciate her enough to buy her music which is doing remarkably well.

  32. JimmyBoy October 19, 2009

    I loved it. ok it wasn’t perfect but so what? Her vocals were stronger than any other performance from this era. She looked stunning.

    I think the c*** up on the first queue can be put down to nerves, alot of pressure was put on her for this performance. The show have BIGGED her up all weekend and they pushed the album back in just the UK for this performance.

    She will get more comfortable

    As for the little interview… it wasn’t as bad as everyone is making out. Whitney has always been a little strange in interviews, taking pauses and things before she speaks. No biggy

    Go Whitney, seems like she is really working on her voice

  33. Ann October 19, 2009

    Whitney was not strange during the interview, she was just so freaking exhausted (46 years old) and still a little concerned about the dress. She was definitely trying to catch her breath. Trust that when you get in your mid 40s and run out of breath, it takes more than two deep breaths to bring your exhaustion down. S***, sometimes you got a sit down in a f****** chair. Whitney was great, and I hate that the “crack” thing will follow her to death. I think that when she gets a new love interest and starts to mentally and physically move past Bobby, then the public will view her more objectively. Right now, they still think too much about her past, because she has not provided them with anything new. Now, when the public speaks to Bobby, they talk about his new girlfriend and child, and not so much Whitney. The same will happen with Whitney when she starts a new personal life.

  34. wanda October 19, 2009

    @Ann- whitney’s been pass Bobby-we haven’t seen her photographed anywhere near him in years. All the photos in the last year or two have been ofWhitney flying in and out of airports with Krissy, their dogs Doogie and Bella, her sister – in Law Pat and her entourage- She’s been working her b*** off.

    I think the public has a strange and twisted fascination with Whitney the likes that hasn’t been seen since Michael Jackson although she is more relevant in terms of music at this stage in her career.

    The love to hate on her but can’t seem to leave her alone. X-Fact just announced a ratings bonanza of over 13mil viewer- an improvement from previous weeks and that is not just due to Cheryl Cole.

    I think quite possibly, for the US, Whitney may be tne most talked about Celebrity and then people/fans go out and buy her music….weird but true. She will have a top 5 album in the UK for sure and her single is doing extremely well granted it wa release 2 wks ahead of X-Factor so not much room for growth but now #5 on Itunes.

    I enjoyed her performance and she looked like a million bucks- all she has to do is lose a little bit of that stomach and she’d be a perfect 10! Her energy and swag makes me more to see her on tour.love how she checked Simon!

    Very strage the public pathology on WhitneyHOuston. There will be no other, treasure her while she is here.

  35. WWW October 19, 2009

    Love it!!! she messed up with the lyrics at the beginning but recovered tremendously well.

    Gotta love this woman. She looks hot hot hot!!!!

  36. f*** Whitney stans October 19, 2009

    this performance was just terrible
    the voice, the way she acted, everything was a hot ass mess

    and you didnt post your review cuz not even yoself as a whitney stan that you are, had words for such mess, keep it real

  37. Roabsalom October 19, 2009

    Hands down! She did a good job and she was having a damn good time. She is obviously really getting back on top of things. At least she is actually doing what she is known for, she is performing and not being just a tabloid F’d up celebrity! i’m so happy for her! Loved ths performance, could it hav been better of course, but was it good..Hell yeah! Thumbs up!

  38. antertain October 19, 2009

    Whitney was very energetic and fierce.

    Her vocals are getting better especially with that song. She does need to stop the cigs though.

    She was tired at the end but she defo performed with her diva swagger.

    I liked it a lot cus the comeback it progressing with each performance.

    She was sweaty and knackered after singing to even think straight lol but i love her.

  39. gina October 20, 2009

    That video has gone viral – over 1mil views in less than 2 days. People can’t get enough of Whitney- they just like to follow whatever she’s doing. I don’t think she was drugged, i saw pics of her leaving the studio and she was just as clear eyed as day, also Clive and her family was with her. People just like to overanalyze everythng she does and she’s a bit quirky.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WSd6eRUDQ8&feature=related

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