Whitney Houston - I Learned From The Best

What this video is

Released in November 1999 as the fifth and final single from My Love Is Your Love, 'I Learned From The Best' arrived at the tail end of Whitney Houston's commercial peak and at a cultural inflection point — the late-90s moment when adult contemporary R&B was consolidating its dominance via Diane Warren-penned power ballads and David Foster productions. The song's lyrical framework of emotional self-reclamation…

Why it matters

A canonical example of the late-90s Diane Warren / David Foster adult-contemporary R&B ballad form. The video's theatrical concert aesthetic — intimate venue, chiaroscuro lighting, emotionally reactive intercutting — set a template for high-production ballad videos of the era. Its inclusion in the…

The director

Kevin Gerald Bray is an American film, television, commercial, and music video director. He attended the University of Michigan and the University of Paris (Sorbonne) before completing studies at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Beginning in music videos,…