Whitney Houston has new music coming and word on the streets is, it’s some of her best stuff yet. The late icon’s new movie Sparkle features a few tracks from Whitney, written and produced by R. Kelly himself.
In an exclusive interview with Whitney before she passed, we asked about what it was like working with R. Kelly and she set us straight – it’s Robert to Miss Houston!
Check out our exclusive below!
Can you talk a little bit about working with R. Kelly on the soundtrack and developing new material? What do you bring out of each other? What do you like working with him on?
I call him Robert. Let’s get that straight. He wrote a song for me about 12, 13 years ago that he’d been trying to get to me for years, which was called “I Look To You.” I finally got the song. I heard it back then, but we passed on it. But he kept on it. The timing was correct for that particular song in my life at the time. I traveled up and down that Chicago highway a few times to his house. He is the kind of musician … the kind of person, whom you could stand there and say ‘This is how I feel’ and he will stand there and write a song within five minutes. He’s that incredible. I have to give him props where props are due. He has an anointing on him that’s powerful. I witnessed it myself. I watched him and we’ve had our share of words and I would win. But he is like my brother … he’s like a brother to me. We talk about life, and things that happen in life, our triumphs and our survival of it. And that makes a good song for anyone to sing, or anyone to write. I am extremely proud and very grateful he is apart of this project.
Looking back on the first time you experienced Sparkle, there must have been themes that resonated within you. Can you describe what those were now that you’re knee deep into the material?
It’s crossing the boundaries; it’s crossing the barriers. It’s breaking down walls that are left, tearing them down. It’s presenting African Americans in a beautiful light. Everybody on camera is just beautiful. We’re smart, and we’re educated and we’re dealing with a time of civil unrest. It’s the year Dr. King was assassinated. We had drama. All of that feeling was all up in there. Raising children at that time, as a single parent must have been …truly had its tasks. That’s why we put church in it because it is a foundation, in my life I know. I think anybody that was raised in church will understand what I’m talking about, the gospel word. That’s exciting to add more stuff in there, makes it international. Everybody will able to feel it. The songs, the music and Jordin (Sparks) is just spectacular.
