Throughline - The Lasting Power Of Whitney Houston's National Anthem

Episode Date: February 7, 2021

Why does Whitney Houston's 1991 Super Bowl national anthem still resonate 30 years later? Listen to this episode from our friends at It's Been A Minute with Sam Sanders where they chat with author and Black Girl Songbook host Danyel Smith about that moment of Black history and what it says about race, patriotism and pop culture.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for this podcast and the following message come from the NPR Wine Club, which has generated over $1.75 million to support NPR programming. Whether buying a few bottles or joining the club, you can learn more at nprwineclub.org slash podcast. Must be 21 or older to purchase. Hey everyone, it's Ramteen here. I hope you're enjoying your Super Bowl Sunday, a.k.a. America's national holiday, a.k.a. the day where I get to dip my pizza into ketchup and no one looks at me weird because everyone's just eating way too many calories anyway. Anyway, we're bringing you a special Super Bowl episode about Whitney Houston's national anthem performance

30 years ago at the Super Bowl in 1991. And one of the reasons why the performance was so special, other than Whitney Houston's amazing voice, was that it was taking place during a time that was also politically fraught. It was the early days of the first Gulf War. So this episode comes from our friends at It's Been a Minute. It's a beautiful interview about race, pop culture, and patriotism, all surrounding the Super Bowl. Here it is. We hope you enjoy this episode, and we hope you enjoy the game. Go Chiefs. What was the national mood then? I mean, to be honest, the national mood was, everybody was kind of shook. That is Danielle Smith, and she's talking about the national mood

in the run-up to the Super Bowl. Not this weekend's Super Bowl, but another one. Also in Tampa, 30 years ago. In January 1991. It was a different time. I mean, besides the fact that there was no social media yet or anything like that, there hadn't been these huge terrorist events like the Twin Towers going down in Manhattan,

the Boston Marathon, those kind of things hadn't happened yet. We didn't really have a lot of familiarity with walking through metal detectors and things like that to go into ballgames of any kind. America had just entered the first Gulf War 10 days before. People were scared. And the game, Super Bowl XXV, it became this visual symbol of America's emerging modern security state. There was a lot of thought at that time that the Super Bowl was a soft target.

Oh, wow. Because, you know, there would be so many people there, and I believe at that time there were 1,700 individual security personnel on site. It was one of the first times they put up barricades around a stadium. In the midst of all of this, a nation at war, one of the greatest pop stars of all time, delivered perhaps the greatest performance of the national anthem ever. And now to honor America, especially the brave men and women serving our nation in the Persian Gulf and throughout the world, please join in the singing of our national anthem.

Whitney Houston. Whitney's rendition of the national anthem was a certified hit when it was released, and it helped soothe an entire nation on edge. In the aftermath of 9-11, Whitney's version of the National Anthem became a hit again. It reached the top 20 on the Billboard charts and soothed America's soul once more. You're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR. I'm Sam Sanders, and on today's show, we honor Whitney and the 30th anniversary of her rendition of the national anthem at Super Bowl XXV.

We're going to talk about what it meant then and what it means now. Because with another Super Bowl also in Tampa, and a nation also very much on edge for different reasons, I keep going back to Whitney. So like I said, Danielle Smith, former Vibe editor-in-chief and host of the show Black Girl Songbook, she joined me to talk about all of this. Danielle also wrote the definitive oral history of Whitney's performance for ESPN. So there was no better person to help me make sense of why, 30 years later, this moment of Black history still says so much about race and patriotism and a whole lot more. Whitney Houston is, she is operating in this really rarefied air in 91. You know, her and Michael Jackson were really

the first true pop black crossover stars of the MTV era. And she had been fighting through this kind of shiny, perfect image of pop stardom to be taken as seriously and have the same ubiquity as white pop stars. And so to see her in this moment of intense patriotism singing the national anthem, that is perhaps the ultimate crossover for a black woman like her, no? Yes. And I always think, one, I agree with everything you say there. And I also do think that crossover is a term that we all use without really saying exactly what it means. Say it. It means to cross over, but no one says cross over from what to what, right?

Back then it meant because radio stations were segregated at that time and black stations played black music and pop slash white stations played white music. One had to cross over from blackness to whiteness to have the kind of opportunities for success, money, ticket sales, radio sales, all of those things that tie in to being a global superstar to have those kind of opportunities. I always say that Whitney Houston didn't spend her career fighting for pop success. She used her career. She was fighting for pop equality. It's different. Yeah. It wasn't fair, frankly, the fact that MTV had from MTV so that MTV would play Michael Jackson's videos. And Whitney found herself in a very similar position. So, yes, to see her there after seven consecutive number one pop hits, it was.

And I always say I didn't see it in real time. Did not see it in real, I was at work. I was working retail at the time in San Francisco and they were like, it's Super Bowl Sunday, do you wanna come in? And I was like, does it pay time and a half? Because if it does, I'm on the train. So, but to see her, it was everywhere. They replayed it over and over and over and over again.

It was on the radio almost immediately after she sang it because the radio DJs literally taped it from the television broadcast and started playing it. So then Armistead Records actually put it out as a single and the single went platinum. This is the power of Whitney Houston. Coming up, breaking down Whitney's entire performance at that Super Bowl, beat by beat. Stay with us. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. First, I want to talk about just the imagery of Whitney that night. Whitney Houston. You know, she is in the stadium. There's an entire orchestra behind her. There's military patrol all around, military jets in the air. But she is dressed down. She's wearing this white track suit. She's got a headband on. She is this dignified soccer mom, patriotic, Miss America to the T, even these little cross earrings that she wore. And I think just her look was perhaps almost in itself revolutionary.

Her looking like that in that space. What was the look for you? I couldn't believe when I saw it. I was like, that's what she wore? Is she at rehearsal? I was like, there's a lot of things that Whitney Houston was known for in her career. Showing up to stuff in a sweatsuit, right, in joggers, and a zip up jacket is not among them. Yeah. And she did, in fact, look like she might be going to choir rehearsal on any given Thursday night at her church in Newark.

That's what it looked like. But that was the energy that was needed. Because honestly, declaring war is a kind of insanity that it's very difficult for me to wrap my head around. But I do know this, it's not the kind of thing that you need to celebrate with, you know, diamonds and furs and heels. And it seems very much like that outfit that she wore was almost out of respect for the fact that a lot of people were pulling on uniforms and going to put their lives on the line. Yeah. And she sang it like that. Listen, and I want to talk more about the singing, but I do got to say, I watched the video again

last night and I realized Whitney Houston as America's soccer mom in that white track suit singing America's song at the start of a war, it was this image of a Black woman as the ultimate symbol of patriotism. And she was perhaps in that moment the most American thing you'd ever seen. And that's a big deal for a Black woman to be that. It's a massive deal for a Black woman to be that and to be visible as that. It wasn't like she was just chosen because, oh, my God, there's this black woman. And she has an amazing voice and we should pull her out. You know, frankly, there's a black woman with an amazing voice, you know, a lot of places around the recording industry. But the thing that was going on with Whitney Houston is

they knew that she would do the kind of job she would do for reasons that most people know, that most people would do a good job of what they're hired for. It's the experience and the success that they've had thus far. And when you're the kind of person who has seven consecutive number one pop hits, you have to realize when you have a number one pop hit, that means everybody pretty much knows who you are in the United States of America.

So then you're going to times that by seven consecutive. We can't even, in this era of pop music, I don't think we can understand how big of a deal that is. It's a big deal. No, she was selling millions and millions of records. She was never, never not on the radio. Believe me, the National Football League knew that they were hiring a person who had the experience of moving masses of people. Yeah.

You know, when you break it down, she slowed it down. She took it from a waltz to a 4-4. So she went from 3-4 to 4-4, changed the time signature, made it more poppy, made it slower. And her delivery is pretty straightforward. There's not too many riffs, not too many runs. She's singing the song. She's belting it, but she's just singing the song pretty straightforward.

And it's incredibly restrained. Why does that work in that moment when we're used to right now pop stars just really doing the most? You know, that's a good question. I mean, I really feel like the reason that it worked the most is because where most people are nervous, Whitney is the most calm. The spaces in the song where the notes are most difficult to get to or hold, Whitney is actually most at ease. Yeah. And we should point out here, you know, everyone that does these kind of performances, they do a pre-tape because you just can't sing live in a big stadium. It's impossible. But she did her pre-tape in just one take.

She did. Because this is the thing. It's I love a good run. Whitney could do a run times a million, but she used them very strategically, and she chose not to use them here. One, I think it's because runs are difficult to sing along with, and I think she wanted to make a version of this, of our national anthem, that was very easy to sing along to, and it was. And the other thing is she turned it into kind of a bluesy ballad, and that is what Whitney Houston did for a living. Yeah. Well, and there's a certain there's a certain presentation of race that comes when you make the national anthem, the blues, when you make it soul, when you take it from three, four to four, four. And it is, in my mind, this subversive blackness that I appreciated her doing in that moment. Yes, I mean, it is subversive,

but it's also very, very upfront and topmost because the thing is the music that most of America loves, honestly, is based in black blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, etc., etc. So it's not a reach to imagine that a whole bunch of people would like to hear something that sounds a bit bluesy and a bit like a Whitney ballad, because that's what people like in general in this country. When you go into the history of music in this country, which is complex, criminal and bizarre, what you see over and over again, and this is a story that i know people are familiar with but it deserves to be said a lot which is it's the music of black blues men and women that was stolen or replicated by white artists so with the idea of making it more quote-unquote

palatable for broader white audiences. But so when you see somebody like Whitney up there, just like translating, like, what is a very solemn and sad moment, a very bluesy moment for the USA, right? It's wildly appropriate. And that's what it is. I don't think her moment was magical. People were like, oh, it was magic. And I'm like, I don't know if it was magic. I think it was the right choice.

I think Whitney was the right person. I think she put to work in to put herself in place to do that, and she was where she was supposed to be because she placed herself in the position to be available to that moment. Coming up, Danielle tells me her biggest takeaway about that Super Bowl and Whitney's performance 30 years later. Support for this podcast and the following message

come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at AutographCollection.com. What, for you, is your biggest takeaway from Whitney's performance of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl in 91, 30 years later?

I mean, it is a meditation on lots of things, race and patriotism and the importance of popular music and the monoculture. But looking back, what stays with you the most? If you want to know the honest truth for me, what stays with me the most is the fact that she would be dead so early. I think about all that we could be experiencing from her right now. I think about the model that she would present for younger singers, for young black women, and really for women of all races. She's such a picture in that moment of preparation and grace. And it's my favorite part of her performance.

It always makes me a little bit emotional to speak about Whitney in the past tense, to be honest. She's been my favorite since I was a teenager. But when she sings the word free, right, you have to go up really high for that note. And so many people falter at that space. They shorten it. It kind of goes thin at the top of their voices. Whitney not only sings it strong and big and rich and lush. All the way through it, she's building up to the high note.

But just to let you know how dope she is, she adds like a two or three note flourish. Because she gets the vibe. She's like, yes. And then she goes all the way up to the top. And you're like, how'd you do that? Like, who's doing that? She did it because she could. And then that was a moment when she didn't care if everybody could sing along with her.

That was the moment when she's like, I'm giving y'all me right here. It just reminds me as I walk through life. Yes, we're all here, to me in my opinion to be in service to each other for a better world right that's the our best case scenario on this planet earth but every once in a while you have to remind pop superstardom and realizing when you follow the rest of her career in life, it was maybe too much pressure to be that perfect. And I think a lot about what we as a culture and as a country asked of a star like her. And it just feels like no one can be that perfect forever. And she had so much pressure on her. She had so much. She had so much pressure on her. In addition to the pressure that she put on herself. You know, I tell people I interviewed Whitney in 1995 I am blessed to have spent like four hours

with her at her home in New Jersey at the time and yes it was a great evening and um I just thought to myself so many times over the course of that evening you never look like this in public you never look like this physically your personality never reads like this when you're in public. It was very easy for me to see how much of a performance her life was, even when she wasn't on stage, but just when she was moving through the world of the music business. And I don't understand how she did it. I don't understand how she did it from such a young age and for so long.

And I do believe, and I agree with you, when you say it was such a weight, I think it's part of what caused her to die in the way that she died. She died during Grammy week. It's one of the most heartbreaking stories honestly in the history of pop and the thing that makes it wild to me is that when you talk about sort of the unfairness of how black women are viewed in general and in pop culture that it's not viewed that way I don't think that Whitney's life or death is dealt with as it should be at all. And you can believe that I'm making it my business to change that. Yeah. Yeah.

The essay you wrote about this performance, it's just searing onto my brain, and it has been for years. It's poetry to me. And the last, like, two or three graphs or so, you really just capture the beauty and the significance and the imagery of Whitney and that moment where she becomes transcendent, literally singing to the sky with war jets flying overhead.

And I would love if you're okay with it for you to read the last part of that essay for our listeners. Okay, I'm happy to. It makes me feel good too. Very emotional to write this part of that essay for our listeners. Okay, I'm happy to. It makes me feel good too. Very emotional to write this part of the piece. Here we go. Most singers want out of that song. Most reach awkwardly for one note or another or miss it altogether. It's not just that the song is a difficult one. It's difficult in front of people who want to feel the pride in the storybook words. They want to wave their ball caps and whoop in the pause after or the land of the free.

They want to be landlords in the home of the brave. Whitney's version made it all absolute for a moment. Her arms were wide and reaching slightly up at the end A pose familiar to many Americans across races Her head was back as one's can be when victorious And as one's can be when asking for and ecstatically receiving the glory of God Bright bulbs flashed and popped off behind her and B, when asking for and ecstatically receiving the glory of God. Bright bulbs flashed and popped off behind her.

Floodlights intersected with the hazy Florida sunshine and created stairways to heaven. You could almost walk up there to where the four war jets are. You have to understand. I miss her so much. Isn't it too much? It's too much. Yeah. Thanks again to author Danielle Smith.

Danielle is hosting a new music and talk show from Spotify and The Ringer called Black Girl Songbook. On the show, she celebrates and uplifts black women in the music industry. Black Girl Songbook, it also has an episode dedicated to Whitney. So go check it out. All right, before we get to the credits this week, I've got to take a little time to honor a dear friend and colleague.

This is producer Anjali Sastry's last show with us. She's going off on a fellowship for the next few months. And the team, past and present, of It's Been a Minute, we wanted to give her a little best things shout out all about her. Hey, Sam. It's Star from Cypress, California. And the best part of my week was finding out that my mentor and friend Anjali is starting her journey to make radio a more inclusive place. Anjali, I'm going to really miss working with you every day. You are such a force. One of the best things about Anjali is that she always puts confidence in others and does everything with warmth and kindness. The best thing about Anjali so far has been how hard she's worked on It's Been a Minute and how much that's meant to the show. And she'll be there to lend an ear or to be a cheerleader when I need it.

So the best thing about Anjali, my dear friend, my dear colleague, is that she never takes no for an answer. She is the most diligent and committed producer. She's a kind, hard-working, talented friend and colleague who I can talk to about pretty much anything. And she's the first person who made me feel at home at NPR. All the best for this new journey, Anj. I'm so proud of you. Looking forward to what you make after this. Congrats. It's been an amazing ride. We're going to miss you. Anjali, we will miss you. I can't even recall what my work life was before you entered it. I am grateful for you more than you'll know.

All right. This week, the show was produced by Janae West, Anjali Sastry, and Andrea Gutierrez. Our intern is Liam McBain. Our fearless editor is Jordana Hochman. Our director of programming is Steve Nelson. And our big boss is NPR's senior VP of programming, Anya Grundman. All right, listeners, till next time, be good to yourselves. I'm Sam Sanders.

We'll talk soon. This message comes from Grammarly. Back-and-forth communication at work is costly. That's why over 70,000 teams and 30 million people use Grammarly's AI to make their points clear the first time. Better writing, better results. Learn more at grammarly.com slash enterprise. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, at grammarly.com slash enterprise.