Whitney Houston has a new song out: Listen to ‘Higher Love’

By Hannah Sparks

Whitney Houston’s new jam is about to soundtrack your weekend.

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Yes, more than seven years after her death, pop music’s iconic “Voice” has a new single dropping Friday.

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Houston recorded a live rendition of Steve Winwood’s 1986 chart-topper “Higher Love,” performed at a show in Tokyo. It was never released in America — until now.

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The rare cover is out thanks to record label mogul Clive Davis. Houston’s legendary mentor partnered with her estate to gift fans this dance remix from Norwegian DJ Kygo, who’s collaborated with hit-makers such as Selena Gomez, Imagine Dragons and Rita Ora.

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“I was honored when the Whitney Houston estate reached out and presented me with the opportunity to work with one of the greatest female vocalists of all time,” Kygo said in a statement. .

“I reworked the song from scratch and am really happy with how it turned out.”

Davis’ Instagram teaser for the song features a brief docu-clip of Kygo opening a desk drawer to find a VHS tape with a note that reads “Tokyo 1990 Whitney H.”

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“When [producer] Narada Michael Walden sent me ‘Higher Love’ with the Whitney vocal, we didn’t want her being a cover artist at that time,” Davis tells Rolling Stone. “The only place it was released was as a bonus cut in Japan.”

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Pat Houston, Whitney’s sister-in-law and executor of her estate says, “The current cultural environment has been thirsty for something uplifting and inspiring. Who better to inspire than Whitney, the most exhilarating vocalist of all time?”

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RCA records and the estate were confident about tapping Kygo for the remix, particularly Pat, saying he was the “first person that was mentioned.” She was reportedly impressed with his work on Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing.”

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For his part, Kygo says his intentions were to avoid being too heavy-handed with Whitney’s vocals, but create something fresh with the background production. “I was trying to make it sound like something that she would’ve done, but also something that’s my style,” the DJ tells Rolling Stone.

Pat says she felt confident enough to not get involved in Kygo work. “You can’t tell Michael Jordan how to shoot a basketball,” she says. “We knew when his name was brought up that it would be successful in the hands of someone of his caliber.”

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The release of “Higher Loves” is the latest in a burst of recent Whitney news, including her upcoming tour in holographic form, a Broadway musical and a posthumous album filled with previously unreleased tracks.

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Pat says their aim is to inspire a new legion of Whitney fans.

“We want to remind people why they fell in love with Whitney in the first place.”