From The Vault is back this week with a diva duo for the ages.
Today’s pick comes courtesy of the legendary Whitney Houston and the Queen of Christmas herself Mariah Carey: we give you their live rendition of ‘When You Believe’ at the 1999 Oscars.
After sending the world into a state of shock with the unexpected release of this ‘Prince Of Egypt’ duet, and steering it to #15 in the US and the Top 5 of several European countries, Nippy and Mimi had the honor of belting ‘Believe’ at the Academy Awards. The apex of the movie industry.
Dressed in white gowns and backed by a gospel choir, the divas gave a singing masterclass. Once again they proved that their otherworldly talent was not only confined to well-engineered recordings, but was elevated the more in the live environment. They blew the roof off the building with her melismatic showing.
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If you are familiar with just how much the media pitted these two queens against each other, you’ll digest just how iconic and symbolic this collaboration remains ’til this day. It totally went against the pre-conceived idea that (with females in the music industry) there’s only room for one top talent. Because Mimi and Nippy reigned in union.
We sincerely hope 2020 brings with it some big collaborations akin to this one; and with female unity in music on an upswing (or so it would seem on Instagram), we may be in for a treat.
Which diva pairing would you most like to see happen?
Iconic. Not that it was ever a completion, but Whitney did have Mariah on this night. Fya.
Can y’all just enjoy the dang performance and stop putting them against one another.
The performance as a WHOLE was epic!
THAT’S ALL that needs to be mentioned here!
That was a good performance and they both came together well and held their own.
Sad that it is always black people pitting women against each other, and what’s worse is that it’s men doing it. This was not a competition. It was 2 legends together giving a great performance at the Oscars. Grow up clown!
They both Sounded Beautiful and Iconic.
Mariah did way better when they performed on Oprah .. I think Whitney got upset Mariah outshined her so she stole some of mariahs parts here at the Oscar performance , she was showing her insecurities
Mariah > Whitney
Whitney NEVER got upset about any woman shining. She was one of the most secure divas known to man. Kill that narrative already
The greatest singers (along with Auntie Aretha) of all time
I remember when mariah had to keep re doing her parts in the studio because she couldn’t hang with whitney slaying hers in one take. Whitney outsang her on both live versions; Oscar’s and Oprah. Mariah was never a match for whitney on any stage
You can NOT find a tone like mariah’s in ANY Gospel church. YOu can find a Whitney but NO Mariah. Mariah has a lovely voice