Holding Lightning by Emily Lordi review
An empathetic biography of the singer recasts her tumultuous later career as a triumph of self-expression
TL;DR
- The biography "Holding Lightning" by Emily Lordi rejects the "good girl gone bad" narrative of Whitney Houston's life.
- Lordi contextualizes Houston's queerness, drug use, and eccentricities within her talent and the pressures of "black excellence."
- The book explores Houston's family history, her early relationship with a summer camp friend, and her marriage to Bobby Brown.
- Lordi argues that Houston was a musical genius, citing her unique phrasing, tone, and inflection as acts of creation that influenced artists like Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift.
- The later half of the book reframes Houston's post-Bodyguard work as her "blackest, queerest, most feminist work," including albums like "Waiting to Exhale" and "My Love Is Your Love."
- Houston's later work is seen as a precursor to Beyoncé's "Lemonade," and she is credited with nurturing younger black talent.
- The biography offers a kinder, more insightful, and restorative portrait of Whitney Houston.