The big moment finally arrived for Whitney Houston’s masses of fans around the world today, as her big comeback performance as part of Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series aired today in the US on ABC. Prior to reading our take on what went down, peep the performances below of new single ‘Million Dollar Bill’, ‘My Love Is Your Love’, ‘I Look To You’ and the classic ‘I’M Every Woman’:
Regular readers of That Grape Juice will know just how genuinely excited we are about Whitney’s comeback. However in staying true to our stance on not sugarcoating ish, this was not Whitney’s best performance…not by a long shot. Clearly hoarse and exhausted, her vocals did little to alleviate the murmurings about her voice being at worst ‘shot’ and at best ‘only good in the studio’. Though she sounded better on the first two songs ‘Bill’ and ‘My Love Is Your Love’, I’d be inclined to agree with the latter, which – believe it or not – I feel is ok for Whitney considering all she has been through.
In so much as saying that then, the off-the-charts energy the stunning looking Whitney exuded (along with crowd) really drove home the message about this being about much more than a debate about whether or not her vocals are still as great as they once were, it’s about the emancipation of Whitney, the human being. Something, which after watching this and seeing how happy and radiant she looked, I feel should be celebrated. At this junction, and in Whitney’s best interest, I’d be more than glad to have more in the way of new albums, music videos and the occasional ‘big performances’, over touring and quite frankly any avenues for embarrassment. As hard a fact it is for some to digest, Whitney’s voice isn’t as it once was, so should be rested and honed to be the best it can possibly be.
A few additional points:
* With the concert being pre-recorded, the editors over at Good Morning America did a great job of editing the audio on ‘Million Dollar Bill’ and ‘I Look To You’ LOL (this I know having taken a look see at the fan recordings from yesterday). Shhh don’t tell anyone though!
* I spat out my tea (yes, how English lol) at ‘I got my baby, me and Bobby’s baby’. Loved it!
* Whitney broke down in tears while starting to sing ‘I Look To You’ to her mother, Cissy Houston, God and her fans. Very emotional moment.
* After performing the song, she actually apologised for the roughness of her vocals, revealing that she had filmed her much hyped Oprah interview the day before. She added that she spoke to the chat show legend for more than 3 hours.
In being fair, Ms Mariah didn’t get cut much slack for her ‘I was too emotional’ excuse at the Michael Jackson memorial, so unfortunately neither does/should/will Whitney. Whoever handles her scheduling needs to fix up, for as much as I wanted to steer away from saying this, 2009 Whitney is not Beyonce. Now before the stans tear me to shreds, I mean this in that Beyonce next to never falters on the vocal tip, despite performing like a machine day in and day out – due largely, I’m sure, in part to her age and the fact she hasn’t been through what Whitney has. Whitney on the other hand, and this is no secret, needs to rest her voice – especially considering the ‘changed’ nature of it at this point.
* With the Oprah interview interview being so long (unplanned), the interview will now air over 2 days – 14th and 15 September – both of which being full hour episodes! According to insiders, Whitney talked everything from her drug addiction to Bobby Brown and just about everything else we’ve been curious to hear her speak on. Commercials running for the interview, make it look like it’ll be a tear-jerker. Can’t wait.
What do you think of the performances?
