Editing I'm Your Baby Tonight (section)

==Background==
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| quote  = That is me. It's been the real Whitney all along. This album was not a real effort to bring me back anywhere. It really does say something to me when they say my songs aren't black enough. I sang, and I arranged a lot of stuff that I did. Black people have no barriers — we can do anything.
| source = –Whitney Houston (1991)<ref name="WhitneyR&B">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1991/BB-1991-02-23.pdf |title=Houston Touches Her R&B Base With New Album |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |author=Janine McAdams |date=February 23, 1991 |access-date=May 4, 2025}}</ref>
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In 1987, Houston released her sophomore album, ''[[Whitney (album)|Whitney]]'', which was aimed to give her a more accessible [[pop music|pop]] audience in contrast to the [[contemporary R&B|R&B]] and [[love ballad]] material composed on Houston's [[Whitney Houston (album)|self-titled debut]] (1985). The record made history for Houston as she became the first female artist to debut at number one on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] and produced four consecutive number one singles on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] — a record at a time for a female artist. The album also cemented her reputation as a [[Cultural impact of Whitney Houston|global superstar]], with her two albums selling a combined thirty million units by 1989. Her successful [[crossover music|crossover blend]] of pop, R&B and [[gospel]] helped Houston to break racial barriers on pop radio stations and [[MTV]], which along with the commercial breakthrough of [[Michael Jackson]], led to the music industry enjoying "the best time for crossover artists since the height of disco in the mid-to-late [[1970s in music|'70s]]", according to journalist Frank Rizzo in 1987.<ref name="whitneymtv">{{cite web |url=https://www.macleans.ca/culture/how-whitney-houston-changed-mtv/ |title=How Whitney Houston changed MTV |date=February 12, 2012 |author=Jaime Weinman |access-date=June 21, 2022}}</ref>

Despite this, however, some black critics began to voice their disapproval of Houston's music, especially with her sophomore release, ''Whitney'', which included the number-one hits, the dance-pop hit "[[I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)]]" and, in particular, the rock song, "[[So Emotional]]". These critics accused the singer of "[[selling out]]" by neglecting black musical influences in favor of music intended to appeal to white audiences.<ref name=Soul>{{cite episode |series = A History of Soul Music |network =[[VH1]]|airdate=October 18, 2007}}</ref> They also felt that her records lacked the soul of her live performances of the same songs.<ref name="Cain-1990">{{cite magazine|author=Duckett Cain, Joy|date=December 2003|title=The Soul of Whitney|magazine=Essence Magazine}}</ref> Houston's name was jeered by some in the audience at the [[Soul Train Music Awards]] ceremonies of [[1988 Soul Train Music Awards|1988]] and [[1989 Soul Train Music Awards|1989]] after her name was announced as nominee in several categories.<ref name="Company1991a">{{cite magazine|last=Norment|first=Lynn|title=Whitney Houston Talks About The Men In Her Life – And The Rumors, Lies And Insults That Are The High Price Of Fame|magazine=[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UdQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA112|date=May 1991|page=112|issn=0012-9011}}</ref> Houston defended herself against the criticism telling ''[[Essence (magazine)|Essence]]'' magazine in 1990, "If you're gonna have a long career, there's a certain way to do it and I did it that way. I'm not ashamed of it."<ref name="Cain-1990" /> Later on, Houston steadfastly denied claims that her R&B base had deserted her to ''Billboard'' magazine.<ref name="WhitneyR&B"/>

Contrary to popular belief, Houston and label head [[Clive Davis]] had discussed plans to go into a more urban direction as early as the spring of 1988 as popular music was starting to embrace a new urban pop genre called [[new jack swing]]. Even as her sophomore album ''[[Whitney (album)|Whitney]]'' was blanketing airwaves that year, music industry insiders were speculating that "[t]here is talk her next album will have a 'black direction'."<ref>{{Cite news |last=George |first=Nelson |date=May 7, 1988 |title=Debate Over Whitney Gets So Emotional |pages=20 |work=Billboard Magazine |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1988/BB-1988-05-07.pdf |access-date=April 10, 2023}}</ref> Houston decided to assert more creative control of her music and became an [[executive producer]] for the first time on an album. Houston convinced Davis to hire the new jack swing production team of [[L.A. Reid]] and [[Babyface (musician)|Babyface]], citing their work on artists such as [[Karyn White]] and [[The Whispers]] among others.