Whitney Houston could not dance. Although not many people know this, she had two left feet and avoided dancing at all costs, even in her live performances. Yet, there was so much more to this woman than the fact that she could not dance. As discussed in the novel ʻA Little Devil in Americaʼ by Hanif Abdurraqib, Houston had a complex personal and professional career, she was often deemed “not black enough” by black audiences and never quite ʻwhite enoughʼ for white audiences. In fact, as written in Steven Roseʼ Guardian article, she was engineered to be ʻnot black enoughʼ from the very start of her career and long before. She grew up going to a private Catholic girls school, at aged 19, she was signed to Arista Records. The CEO, Clive Davis consciously molded her into a pop princess, catering to the tastes of white audiences, anything that sounded ʻtoo blackʼ was sent back to the studio for improvements.
This scrutiny came to a head in 1987 when Whitney released her second album, with white critics saying that the album was ʻrestrictedʼ and ʻtoo safeʼ sounding. Further criticism was given in the 1987 July issue of Time magazine, titled ‘The Prom Queen of Soulʼ which ruminated on her looks. At several points throughout the article, the writer expressed her surprise at both her looks and her ability ʻto singʼ despite her looks. Some black audiences also did not appreciate Houstonʼs vocal style; she was booed at the 1989 Soul Train Awards. Despite winning two Grammys, 11 American Music Awards and achieving the biggest selling album by a female artist in history, some black radio stations refused to play her music, because, well, they viewed her as not black enough.
It must’ve been hard for Whitney to form an authentic identity for herself as a black female artist, as she was constantly being molded and critiqued by everyone around her. Even on her 1987 second album cover, her hair is slicked back into a tight ponytail with a string of pearls laid carefully around her neck, making her appear regal and stoic. But her sound was not as contained, her voice was powerful and thrilling. This idea of trying to assimilate into White Society was talked about by scholar Mary Helen Washington in her essay “All the Women Are White, All Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave” after an interview she had with Alice Walker. Washington wrote that she had a theory that ʻBlack women in the Fifties and Forties got away from their roots much more than they will probably ever do again, because that was the time of greatest striving to get into White society and erase all backgrounds of poverty.ʼ
Although Houston came later on from this period, she inherited this state of assimilation from her mother, who had strived as a backup singer for Aretha Franklin. This weighed heavily upon Houstonʼs shoulders, she was black in a country that loved her as long as she didn’t remind them too much of her blackness, whilst also not trying so hard to appear white. What is the tragic aspect of Whitneyʼs career and treatment as a female black singer is that she was seen as a brand rather than a person. This reflects the white supremacist capitalism that existed in America and still exists today.
