Behind the song: ''I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)'' by Whitney Houston

​''I pictured somebody single wishing that they could find that special person for themselves. It wasn't, 'I wanna go down the disco and dance,' really. It was, 'I wanna do that dance of life with somebody.' That was the thought behind the song. So we sent our demo version off to Clive Davis and he loved it. - Shannon Rubicam (songwriter)

The first version of the song reminded me of a rodeo song with Olivia Newton-John singing. I love Olivia Newton-John, but for Whitney Houston, it didn't seem right. I felt the song needed a much funkier feel. I slept, dreaming about it, woke up in the morning thinking about it, wondering what am I gonna do with this dance song. So, we just jumped in the water and lo and behold a magic record was born, Houston just knocked it out and then I knew we had a good record. - Narada Michael Walden

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''When Whitney Houston came on the scene, we'd never seen the likes of her before. So many elements came together so effortlessly. It was like she had been passed down the torch from her mother Cissy, godmother Darlene Love, aunt Aretha Franklin and cousin Dionne Warwick, and she was now the new champion who could go beyond all of them.'' - Narada Michael Walden

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