Whitney Houston died on February 11, 2012. Her death's anniversary was observed this week. There were articles and many mentions in the media about her and her death. And deservedly so. Houston was a mega-star. She possessed one of the best, most striking voices of the 20th century. She was beautiful. She was regal.
And, that last description is why we are missing her so much. She was regal.
Let's keep it 100. Regal is a word that pretty much describes...no one in the music business currently. Taylor Swift is relentlessly bland. Rihanna is...not regal. Ke$ha is scary. Britney Spears is Britney, Bitch. Christina Aguilera barely sings anymore. Brandy can't drum up interest any longer.
About the only singer that comes to mind that approaches Houston's career peak majesty is Adele. And Adele isn't so much regal, as she is ...old school. She's more of a throwback to the 1960's, where female singers stood in one place, in evening gowns, and belted. Placed next to her wild contemporaries, Adele looks, well, like an adult.
I'm not dissing any of the above female singers. I think Taylor Swift is a marvel of self contained marketing genius. She's ridden safe and middle of the road to cosmic level heights. Rihanna seems to have a very good grasp of staying in her lane: she's Jody Watley 2.0. As long as EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is still popular, Ke$ha and Spears will have careers.
But, that ethereal, sultry, regal package? That Whitney was? More than likely gone forever.
For those who only knew of Houston from her reality show with her ex-husband Bobby Brown (quite possibly the one thing that got Bobby Brown clean from drugs it was so brutally bad to watch), know that you missed out on a star who, from her debut in 1985, to her seismic, time capsule smash "I Will Always Love You" in 1992, was the definition of elegance. In early '85, we were dazzled by this.
A few months later, Houston (and Clive Davis) hit us with this.
And there's no way I could forget this.
See what I'm saying? If you can imagine it, Houston was a mixture of Diana Ross and Barbara Streisand. She had Ross's runaway beauty, natural star power, and poise, and the gargantuan voice and vocal ability of Babs. It was almost as if Clive Davis (the man who discovered/developed Houston) hadn't molded Houston...he genetically engineered her in a laboratory.
And now, Whitney is gone. Not only the woman. Not only the artist. But that kind of artist. Classy, elegant, Royal. Regal. In 2013, regal has no place on Billboard. Our current female singers are edgy, wild, nerdy, smart, hurt, fun, funny, and sexy. Everything that guarantees that Google's SEO functions will keep their names popping up in digi-sphere.
But regal? No. Sadly, that may have died on that same night in February, 2012, that Whitney did.
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