Just Whitney - Background and Production

Background and Production

Just Whitney... is Houston's fifth studio album, that she recorded after renewing her contract with Arista for a record $100 million. It is mixed with soulful and R&B ballads to dance songs. Houston said that she wanted to make a "very soul oriented" album, something she felt was missing on the radio. It was a departure in style from her previous album My Love Is Your Love, which was blended with hip hop and reggae jams. Regarding the album's recording sessions L.A. Reid, with whom Houston was working, said

"We really wanted to re-establish a core urban base for Whitney. We made records that were black pop for years. And now, that same black pop doesn't work well".

She started to work with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, with whom she had worked in her previous albums, Kevin Briggs who produced songs for TLC, Destiny's Child, and others. Other major producers included Missy Elliott, who worked with Houston on My Love Is Your Love, Teddy Bishop, Gordon Chambers, Rob Fusari and Troy Taylor. Her then husband, Bobby Brown also co-produced one of the tracks along with Jerry Mohammed. Andre Lewis, who met Houston through Brown, also contributed to the project. In addition to these producers, Houston also worked with Rodney Jerkins and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, but their works did not make the album.

In an interview with Billboard, Houston said that the whole recording process was "very loose". She said that she would listen to tracks and Reid would recommend the producers. She also said that she really enjoyed the process, because she got some "really great creative" material. About the process, Reid said,

"I asked her to go in and experiment with different producers, which is something she hadn't done in the past"

Recording took place in various locations including Atlanta Premier Recordings in Atlanta, Capitol Studios in California, Crossways Studios in New Jersey, The Hit Factory-Criteria in Miami and many other locations.

Musically, the album is a mixture of music ranging from R&B and soul to dance. According to Houston,

"his album for me is about surviving, raising a family, being a wife or girlfriend and all the challenges that go along with those things. These songs are more about creating a mood than about anything in particular."

She also said that she wanted to give something to the fans, songs which they can sing along to and love the melody. She also incorporated samples into her songs such as in "One of Those Days" ㅡ album's second single, which sampled The Isley Brothers' song "Between the Sheets". She also covered Debby Boone's classic "You Light Up My Life". The album also contains the rock influenced "Tell Me No", which was produced by Babyface, who also produced some other songs on the album including the ballad "Try It on My Own" and dance-pop song "Love That Man" ㅡ both of which became singles. The song "Whatchulookinat" was produced by Brown and Mohammad 2G and became the project's lead single. The lyrics of the song co-written by Houston herself was taken by critics as an answer to the media for preoccupying her private life and personal travails.