Whitney Houston’s pre-recorded cover of Steve Winwood’s 1986 hit, “Higher Love” has been released. The song, which was originally recorded in 1990, was remixed by Norwegian DJ Kygo and released on Friday (June 28).
For many, “Higher Love” is a never-before-heard song for the late icon. Houston’s sister-in-law, Pat Houston, reportedly tapped Kygo for the remixed audio after falling in love with his tasteful remix of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing.”
“The current cultural environment has been thirsty for something uplifting and inspiring,” Pat Houston told Rolling Stone. “Who better to inspire than Whitney, the most exhilarating vocalist of all time? Kygo was the first person that was mentioned. He put his spin on it and did a fantastic job.”
The Houston estate was hands-off in the creative process, however. “You can’t tell Michael Jordan how to shoot a basketball,” Pat explained. “We knew when his name was brought up that it would be successful in the hands of someone of his caliber.”
And for Kygo, he said that it was important to him to “make it sound like something that she would’ve done, but also something that’s my style.”
Listen to Whitney Houston’s “Higher Love” above.