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Description

Using the sound and sentiment of Whitney Houston's third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight, this book dives into the ways the singer defied white superstardom. Released in 1990, the album was a turning point in Houston's career. Her first two albums, 1985's Whitney Houston and 1987's Whitney, skyrocketed her to international celebrity-and secured her seven consecutive No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100. But they also brought allegations that Houston had sold out to the white mainstream. As a result, her third album saw her tapping into what many people considered to be a Blacker sound: a nod to '70s Black pop, an embrace of the ascendant rhythms of new jack swing.

At a time when Houston's presence is making a comeback in pop culture, this book investigates what the lyrics, looks (this was the height of the MTV era), and legacy of I'm Your Baby Tonight reveal about the racial expectation of being a palatable pop persona-how, through this record, Houston tried, successfully but also devastatingly, to chart her own path against the currents of the white mainstream.

Table of Contents

1. Whitney Houston, Pop Princess
2. A Damn Shame, Forgot My Name! -Presenting a Tougher Whitney Houston
3. Fantasy and Ecstasy-Whitney Houston's Exploration of Sensuality
4. Whitney Houston's Church Roots
5. Whitney Houston's Cultural Offspring

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 12 Nov 2026
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Pages 144
ISBN 9798765132630
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions 165 x 121 mm
Series 33 1/3
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Brandon Tensley

Brandon Tensley is the inaugural national politics…

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