"How Will I Know" is a song recorded by American recording artist Whitney Houston for her debut album, entitled Whitney Houston, which was released in February 1985. It was released by Arista Records in November that year, as the album's third single. Composed by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, the song was originally intended for Janet Jackson, but she passed on it. Houston then recorded the song with altered lyrics and production from Narada Michael Walden. An up-tempo dance song, the lyrics speak about the protagonist trying to discern if a boy she likes will ever like her back.
"How Will I Know" received mainly positive reviews. The song became Houston's second number one single on the United States Billboard Hot 100. It spent two weeks atop the chart and also became Houston's first chart topper on the Canadian RPM Singles Chart. In other regions, the song was successful, reaching the top 10 in in Sweden, Norway, and United Kingdom and the top 20 in the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
The song's music video features scenes of Houston dancing in a strikingly designed setting of video screens and colored partitions. The music video gave Houston exposure to the teens and MTV, a feat which the black artists had traditionally found tough to achieve. It also received nominations at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards in the categories of Best Female Video and Best New Artist in a Video, winning the former category. The song has been performed on many of her tours including Greatest Love Tour (1986) and her recent Nothing but Love World Tour (2009–10). "How Will I Know" is also featured as a remix on Houston's compilation album, Whitney: The Greatest Hits (2000), whereas the original version is featured on The Ultimate Collection (2007).
Read more about How Will I Know: Background and Recording, Composition, Music Video, Live Performances, Cover Versions, Track Listing, Credits and Personnel
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