Jessie J channeled the spirit of Whitney Houston with this one! It takes a special kind of talent to take the songs of The Prom Queen of Soul and not only hit the notes, but really make it your own as well. Jessie was just the woman to do it with her acoustic cover of Whitney’s anthem “I Have Nothing,” and you better believe she was cooking with gas on that iconic, sky-high chorus hook. The London songstress opened the song with an emotive verse, which the single guitar accompaniment was just perfect for.
Jessie expertly built up the tension leading to the chorus, and when she finally let loose with that stratospheric melody just after the one-minute mark, the crowd instantly sent up cheers. Jessie’s first chorus was flawless, but what’s more impressive is that when she came back for another pass at 3:15, she lifted it to another level with brilliant ad-libbed vocal runs. The Music Man has to say that the final chorus is real tear-jerking territory, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Jessie’s Houston cover really hit the YouTube algorithm after a fan uploaded the performance in January 2022, and it has since gained 2.8 million views. Listeners were blown away and added comments such as “Jessie sings with such authenticity and boldness. Even though she’s singing Whitney, you still see Jessie” and “For me, Jessie J is the best vocalist of this generation. She has the most incredible range. An absolute joy to listen to.”
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While Jessie has a raft of her own hits, there’s no doubt that a number of her greatest performances are on R&B classics. One of The Music Man’s favourite Jessie J moments is when she covered “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” taking inspiration from the hit 1973 R&B arrangement by Roberta Flack. In this performance, Jessie fronts a killer R&B band, and the crowd’s awed reaction to her performance really says it all.
Jessie J has spoken on numerous occasions about her admiration for Whitney Houston. Jessie even credited Houston’s music with kick-starting her career, as she performed a pivotal audition in her early career on a Houston song. She explained “‘I Have Nothing’ was my audition song, and Whitney Houston is my musical inspiration.” Jessie also noted that “[Houston’s] songs were about singing loud,” and that hearing her idol sing that way gave her the confidence to be bold in her own performances.