The latest music documentary about legendary singer, Whitney Houston, has definitely opened up my eyes to her life. “Whitney: Can I Be Me” tells the story of the singer’s life with behind the scenes footage (never released before) and the words of the people closest to her and the singer herself.
I went to a special one-time-only showing of the documentary in a lovely theatre, but it didn’t attract too much of an audience, so the planned DJ was cancelled due to lack of interest. Then again, I already wondered if you would be in a party mood after seeing the documentary in the first place. It was no secret she wasn’t feeling too happy and her life didn’t end that well either.
There have been many documentaries about artists that have made me walk away with the wonder why being artist couldn’t be more like having a regular job / career. Actually, to a certain extend it is, but it is like Whitney says in the film, it’s the fame that makes it difficult. That’s the part you can’t turn off, at any time, and it impacts the rest of life.
I have to admit, I completely believed her story as it was told throughout the years. With her famous family members, I thought she had a fairy tale childhood and everything was amazing until Bobby Brown came to the scene. It’s funny, but I have read books about this woman before this era of her life started and this story was never argued in any of them until I saw “Can I Be Me”.
She had a different start to life than I knew and she’d experimented with drugs throughout her life, which was the first time I heard about that. In fact, knowing all of this, gave me much more respect to her role playing the Whitney that was introduced to the world. I think it was her greatest part. She did it so well, we all believed it for many years and she fell victim to it. It’s the tragic story of many artists.
The documentary also confirmed a lot of sides to Whitney that I did know about. I became a fan of hers during her debut and remained a fan until 2000, so I’m glad I was in tune to her to not have missed all the important stuff. Her insecurities and low self-esteem were noticed by me, as well as the amazing talent she was.
Just a few years ago, I was watching a documentary about black music and this was the first time I heard about how she was perceived by her own people. It was disheartening. For me, she actually was the turning point to realize that soul music was still alive in the 80s and didn’t stand for a genre that had died with the end of the big Motown era. She turned me onto a lot of other female singers, which led to my love for r&b.
I can be very harsh and confirm that her life was really sad. There were a lot of people, drugs and alcohol in her life that made matters worse, but to be honest I think I may have fallen into that same black hole she found herself in if I had been in her shoes. May she rest in peace.
