A new Whitney Houston song has arrived 13 years after her death. Calum Scott released a balladic reinterpretation of the timeless “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me).”
It sounds impossible, but that’s the magic of it. On Thursday, a new Whitney Houston song arrives 13 years after her death.
English singer Calum Scott is responsible. The single is a duet between Scott and Houston, a balladic reinterpretation of the timeless “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me),” using Houston’s original vocal stems. (Stems are the individual musical elements that, when combined, make up a song.)
“It wasn’t even something I could have dreamt as a possibility, and the fact that I’m getting to do it is, geez, one of the honors of my career,” Scott told The Associated Press. Houston’s voice is one that soundtracked his childhood — courtesy his mom — and he refers to Houston as one of the most influential performers in his life and the lives of many.
“Timeless,” he describes her.
Here’s how the new song came into existence.Recording with a giant
Such an undertaking couldn’t be possible without the approval of a number of parties. Specifically, it required Pat Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law and the executor of her estate, and Primary Wave, which acquired the copyrights to hit Whitney Houston songs as part of a 2022 deal.
Pat Houston says the idea for Scott’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” actually came from Primary Wave. They were familiar with Scott’s live cover version of the song from his stint opening for Ed Sheeran in 2024. On that tour, Scott stripped the 1987 classic down into a ballad, blending it with Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own.”
After hearing what Scott could do with the song — taking it from its up-tempo pop spirit to a big-hearted ballad, while also taking into consideration that 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of Houston’s music career — Pat Houston was on board.
