United Airlines...

[Salient Points Of Text On The Classic Whitney Bulletin Board By Blackatlantic]

United Airlines is treating passengers to music from My Love Is Your Love and Diva's Live 99 on one of their in-flight channels. Both albums play in their entirety on the selected channel. Pretty savvy marketing - kudos to Arista for taking advantage of this airborne promotional tool during a peak holiday travel season.

Snippets of an interview with Whitney are interspersed between the album tracks. presumably, the interview was done specifically for this promotional sample.  

Most of the comments from Whitney are new.  Here are some of the more interesting tidbdits that she shared.

1 - Mary J. Blige's 'All That I Can Say' almost ended up on My Love Is Your Love. Lauryn Hill originally proposed the song for Whitney's album. But Whitney passed on the song, and suggested that Hill produce 'I Was Made To Love Him' instead. Whitney declares that she liked 'All That I Can Say', but decided she didn't have enough time to do it justice on the breakneck recording schedule for the album. She called Hill, sketched out the vocal arrangement for 'I Was Made To Love Him' over the phone, and then spent a mere five hours in the studio recording it.

2 - Whitney recalls that she met Hill when the hip-hop queen was only 15 and had not yet recorded with the Fugees. Hill occasionally would attend New Hope Baptist Church where Whitney has been a member since her youth. When Whitney heard that Hill was planning to record with the Fugees, she called the young singer to encourage her to record her own solo album. She told Hill, "You have a beautiful voice that can inspire people; you should record your own album." Whitney reports that even at that young age Hill had a good vision of what she wanted to do with her career--make meaningful music. The golden-voiced diva approves.

3 - She also notes that she and Lauryn bonded over their shared experience of as working mothers.

4 - Whitney reveals that she enjoys message-laden rap. She named Redman, Naughty By Nature, Nas, and the Fugees as some of her favourite rap acts.

5 - She calls My Love Is Your Love her "hip-hop album." But she is quick to add that the music on the album is "hip-hop with class."

6 - Whitney also reports that she had some reservations about performing some of the songs from My Love Is Your Love (i.e. In My Business) in concert. In her view, many of the songs on the album rely heavily on a recorded groove, which she worried would not translate to the stage. As she explained, she prefers to stretch out her songs for live performances to allow room for her out-sized voice. Nevertheless, she says she got past her reservations when she realised that songs like In My Business could be delivered live by focusing on the character and drama of the music.

7 - Yet again she singled out gospel as her favourite musical genre. As she eloquently put it, "Gospel gives me my highest sense of inspiration as a singer. It is my favourite music."

[Many Thanks Blackatlantic]