When Rachel Beck set out to cover Whitney Houston’s 1987 platinum hit, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me),” it wasn’t with the intention of reproducing note for note. Rather than jumping in with both feet, where Houston’s track largely found its strength as a high energy dance number, Beck instead chose to focus in on the meaning behind the song’s lyrics.
Beck’s version of the song is nearly unrecognizable, right up until its chorus. The sparkle of Houston’s version that induced years of mindless bopping around is replaced by a far more somber yearning; the voice of someone forlornly seeking out a dance partner.
“One day, this song danced across the airwaves as I was cooking supper,” says Beck. “I had heard it a hundred times before, but I had never really paid attention to the lyrics. Suddenly, I was struck by the emotion of it. There is so much melancholy and longing hidden behind those catchy pop beats.”
And it fits. Looking at the lyrics, it’s surprising they didn’t cut through clearer in the original, but can barely compete with the cutting treble of Houston’s synths and the beat that Roland TR-808.
“And the sun begins to fade
Still enough time to figure out
How to chase my blues away
I’ve done alright up to now
It’s the light of day that shows me how
And when the night falls, loneliness calls”
Both that was the 80s for you. Beck strips away the mania of big hair and artifice down to an honest-to-goodness drum kit, Natalie Williams Calhoun’s cello, Sean Kemp on violin and just the lightest smattering of synths. It’s a complete re-imagining of the song, and it might not necessarily be the classic bop of the original, but Beck provides an honest and genuine interpretation of the lyrics.