Say what you may about Whitney Houston, the lady at her best could sing better than anyone else in the world. Far more than that, I have to believe that she did the best she could do, and it couldn’t have been easy all the time. I remember the first time I saw the clip above – back then I was just starting to tire of the Bobby Brown antics and the drug rumors and all the rest of it, but then she walked out onto that stage all by herself, and at the 01:12 mark I felt the incredible power and loneliness she must have felt – alone on that stage in the glaring lights – what it was like to put yourself out there for the whole world to judge and ridicule and condemn – to have a family and a career and the incredible pressure to be absolutely perfect in every way. The camera angle at that moment somehow captures that more than any words could have, and the simple way she turns this Dolly Parton song into an anthem of determination, of loving who you are going to love no matter what – well, it moved me. From that moment to this one, I was a fan of her talent, despite its accompanying demons. We all have them.
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