The Murky Ethics of Posthumous Music

“Think about it,” Whitney Houston commands at the beginning of “Higher Love,” the single with the Norwegian DJ Kygo that’s making a splash in the songs-of-the-summer pool. Those lyrics make for a sharp, effective, dartlike opening. They also might double as an invitation to think about the song itself, which is the first instance of “new”—largely unheard by the public—Houston vocals being released since her death, in 2012. As music, “Higher Love” goes down as easily as a sweet blended cocktail, and it marks Houston’s first entry onto the Hot 100 since 2009. For anyone attuned to Houston’s career, life, and commercial afterlife, it’s a strange and telling document as well.

In its original form, recorded and co-written by Steve Winwood, “Higher Love” hit No. 1 and earned Winwood. It didn’t end up on the album. “When [producer] Narada Michael Walden sent me ‘Higher Love’ with the Whitney vocal, we didn’t want her being a cover artist at that time,” Clive Davis, the music exec who helped shepherd Houston’s career, . It was released only as a bonus single in Japan, and remained obscure and little-heard for decades.