Whitney Houston – How Will I Know

Whitney Houston – How Will I Know performed live at Welcome Home Heroes, a concert dedicated to the U.S. troops, their families, and military and government dignitaries in honor of those returning from the Gulf War, which aired on HBO on March 31, 1991

This is a very innocent song where Houston sings about trying to decide if a boy she likes will ever like her back. It went well with her wholesome image early in her career.

Written and composed by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, it was originally intended for pop singer Janet Jackson, who passed on it. Houston then recorded the song with altered lyrics and production from Narada Michael Walden.

The backing vocals are by Whitney’s mother, Cissy Houston.

“How Will I Know” received mostly positive reviews from music critics. It became Houston’s second number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 in February 1986, spending two weeks atop the chart, and also became her first chart-topper on the Canadian RPM Top 100 Singles chart. It also reached top-10 positions in Australia, Sweden, Ireland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, and top-20 positions in the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

“How Will I Know” – Single by Whitney Houston from the album Whitney Houston
Released November 22, 1985
Recorded 1984
Songwriters George Merrill, Shannon Rubicam, Narada Michael Walden
Charted No.1 in US, No.5 UK,No.1 Canada, No.2 Australia, No.2 Norway, No.3 Ireland, No.26 Germany.

The video was directed by Brian Grant, who also did Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” and Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard For The Money.” Houston is playful and coy in the clip, where she is surrounded by energetic dancers.

Grant recalls Houston being very grounded, showing up at the shoot with just a friend and a rep from her record company. He told her to relax and have fun with it, which she did despite being apprehensive at first about the bevy of dancers popping out at her.

The choreographer was Arlene Phillips, who was later a judge on the British show Strictly Come Dancing. She and Grant were asked back to work on Houston’s video for “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” which had even more of a dance focus, this time with Houston doing some light hoofing.

The video has a scene of spattering of paint and drizzling down the screen. Houston’s labelmate and family friend Aretha Franklin also makes a black-and-white cameo appearance in the otherwise colorful music video. In 2011, Kyle Anderson of MTV wrote that it was “eye-opening to watch her cut loose in a fun environment,” since her past songs were ballads.