Whitney Houston & Kygo - "Higher Love"

"We want to remind people why they fell in love with Whitney in the first place," Whitney Houston's sister-in-law Pat Houston the executor of the Whitney Houston Estate said of the new song, and they certainly do, but it isn’t really a new song. It’s a lost track that has resurfaced with a fresh new beat. It’s been seven years since Whitney Houston‘s sudden death, but the late singer’s iconic voice can be heard again in this new song, thanks to Norwegian superproducer Kygo.

Back in 1990, Whitney Houston recorded a cover of Steve Winwood‘s popular 1986 single “Higher Love,” hoping to place the track on her third studio album I’m Your Baby Tonight. However, fearing Houston might be labeled as a “cover artist,” Clive Davis removed the record from the final, definitive American version, allowing it to see release only as a bonus cut on a Japan-only iteration of Whitney Houston’s third LP. As a result, the Steve Winwood cover ended up falling into obscurity.

Now, for the first entry in a series of planned posthumous releases, Whitney Houston’s original cover of “Higher Love” is being brought back as part of a new collaboration with popular producer-DJ Kygo.

For the remix, Kygo stripped away the song’s original production and started anew. “I was trying to make it sound like something that she would’ve done, but also something that’s my style,” he told Rolling Stone. “I’m incredibly honored to have been able to work on this amazing vocal from one of the most legendary artists of all time!” Kygo wrote on social media. “Hope you guys love it as much as I do.”

“The current cultural environment has been thirsty for something uplifting and inspiring,” Pat Houston, Whitney Houston’s sister-in-law, shares with Rolling Stone. “Who better to inspire than Whitney, the most exhilarating vocalist of all time? … We want to remind people why they fell in love with Whitney in the first place.”

According to Pat Houston, Kygo was the first artist that the Houston estate and the record label considered for this special posthumous effort. “He put his spin on it and did a fantastic job,” Pat Houston remarks. “We knew when his name was brought up that it would be successful in the hands of someone of his caliber.”

“I was trying to make it sound like something that she would’ve done, but also something that’s my style,” Kygo adds in his own statement to Rolling Stone.

So today with a little joy just juicing up my day, I choose Whitney Houston & Kygo’s version of Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” as my, let’s get shiny, brighten up that coffee cup, cheer up Charlie, song for a, time to break the chrysalis, dry those wings, jump off and fly, Monday.