A needle drop is the use of an existing song, often by a famous artist, in a movie or TV show. It is often well-thought-through, and brings an extra layer to the scene in question, whether it be through the lyrics of the song, its meaning, or even simply its mood. Some songs have even become synonymous with certain pieces of media, such as Bang Bang by Nancy Sinatra and the first opus of Kill Bill.
Who better to needle drop than the legendary, golden-voice, Whitney Houston. Sometimes emotional, sometimes sultry, always warm, the late singer has accompanied a quantity of movies and TV shows throughout her career. If some of her songs are used more often than others, such as I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) or I Will Always Love You, they all carry meaning and beautifully illustrate the scene in which they are used. Here are the best Whitney Houston needle drops in movies and TV shows.
10 Firefly Lane – I’m Every Woman
Firefly Lane is a beautiful show about friendship. Kate (Sarah Chalke) and Tully (Katherine Heigl) met as young girls and have become inseparable since. The series follows the 30 years the women have been friends, growing up together, going through ups and downs in their personal lives.
Tully Is Every Woman
In Season 2, Episode 4, titled “Papa Don’t Preach,” Tully gets ready for work at three in the morning. The choice to add I’m Every Woman to this scene is a meaningful and powerful one, because Tully then represents all of those hard-working women whose efforts are often forgotten. This happy song celebrates womanhood (with a music video featuring a pregnant Houston at the time), and Tully is a great female lead who goes through struggles that many other women experience.
9 Scandal – I Believe In You and Me
Release Date April 5, 2012
Seasons 7
Kerry Washington stars in Scandal, where she plays Olivia Pope, a former media consultant to the President of the United States who has now started her own crisis management firm. As she deals with the difficulties that such a venture implies, she also has to be weary of some of her employees who might not be as trustworthy as they seem.
A Poignant Stand Against Sexual Harrassment
In Season 7, Episode 14, “The List,” Megan talks during a press conference about a character’s suicide from not wanting to sleep with someone to get a job. She asks other women to come forward about any stories of power or sexual harassment. The song I Believe in You and Me plays non-diegetically in the background. This slow-paced, softly-sung track accompanies this heavy scene, giving it an extra layer of emotion. Although it is originally a love song, it is reused for its hook lyrics to highlight that Megan believes in herself and other women to come forth and take down the harassers.
8 Love, Simon – I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
Release Date February 16, 2018
Director Greg Berlanti
Runtime 110
Simon, the titular character of Love, Simon, is a closeted gay high school student. However, when he gets blackmailed by an unknown person, he is forced to become comfortable with his identity and come out to his friends and family.
Simon’s Dreams of Being Free to Dance with Anybody
In the process of imagining how his life will be once he is out, Simon dreams of himself coming out to his school, gay and proud. The song I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) plays in the background. Whitney Houston has long been a diva admired by LGBTQ+ people, which is why, albeit not mentioned on this list, a variety of her songs have played on shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race. This scene in Love, Simon follows the same legacy. Beyond that, though, the lyrics have their importance as well: Simon wants to be able to “dance with” (or date) whoever he wants to, and for the world to accept it.
Related Best TV Series Based on YA Novels You Can Watch Right Now
YA novels are popular genre of literature that have been adapted into some of the best TV series you can watch right now.
7 The Photograph – You Give Good Love
The Photograph
The Photograph is about a woman, the estranged daughter of a famous photographer, who falls in love with a journalist investigating the death of her mother. Step by step, she falls for him, while getting closer and further to solving her mother’s disappearance and the possible involvement of her father.
A Sultry Song for a Steamy Scene
You Give Good Love comes at an especially sultry moment, where the “secretly” sexual song is used to tell more than what happens on screen. Indeed, the lyricist made choices to give allegories about sex, such as “baby, you give good love,” or “take this heart of mine into your hands,” which is more about breasts than heart. Here, the choice is to follow the meaning of the song, accompanying a romance scene in the film.
6 This Is Us – I Will Always Love You
Release Date September 20, 2016
Seasons 4
Three siblings go through a slew of personal struggles in This Is Us. Kevin, Kate, and Randall seek happiness despite a traumatic event in their lives. In particular, Kate has a rocky relationship with her husband, Toby.
I Will Never Love You Again
In “Katoby,” a Season 6 episodes, Kate and Toby legally divorce. On the elevator back to the lobby, they hear I Will Always Love You over the speakers, which eventually makes them burst out laughing. The song, used diegetically (which is rather uncommon), adds humor to the situation; it shows that despite how bad things get, there is still happiness to be found, which is the whole point of the show. This is one of the few instances where a Whitney Houston song is used as second degree humor rather than first degree understanding.
5 The Preacher’s Wife – Joy to the World (with Georgia Mass Choir)
The Preacher’s Wife tells the story of a down-on-his-luck Baptist pastor, Reverend Henry Biggs (Courtney B. Vance), who struggles to fund the church. He has also been neglectful to his son Jeremiah and wife Julia (Houston), so he is doing badly romantically as well. However, everything has the opportunity to turn around when God sends down an angel, Dudley (Denzel Washington), to help him.
Houston’s Christian Values ShineThrough
In the movie, Houston plays a choir singer, a role that perfectly fits her. She sings several songs with the rest of the choir, some of which have become popular outside the film. Joy to the World is one of those, a cover of a classical church chant. It beautifully encapsulates the happiness that Houston felt as a Christian, always wanting to spread good in the world, which she certainly did during her life. For both fitting into the film and representing the singer herself so well, this is one of Houston’s best needle drops.
4 The Bodyguard – Run to You
Release Date November 25, 1992
Director Mick Jackson
Runtime 130
The Bodyguard stars Whitney Houston herself as a celebrity singer who is being followed by a dangerous stalker, and Kevin Costner as a United States Secret Service agent hired to become her personal bodyguard. The pair will grow closer and apart throughout the film.
A Slower Moment in an Action Film
The Bodyguard is another film known for having a majority of its soundtrack borrowed from Whitney Houston, which earns it a spot on this list. Granted, not every use of a Whitney Houston song in this movie is warranted. But Run to You comes at an opportune moment when the singer and the celebrity get closer together, hence using a romantic, slow-paced song to illustrate this moment. Love songs are used to no end in movies, but using Run to You in the middle of an action movie gives it a nice change of pace.
Related Whitney Houston’s Biggest and Best Movie, Explained
Whitney Houston’s role as Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard reflects her life off-screen, making her performance one to remember.
3 Spider-Man: Far From Home – I Will Always Love You
Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home follows Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as he deals with the fallout of Thanos’ snap and the weight of Tony Stark’s legacy in a post “blip” world. Peter and his friends go on summer vacation to Europe, where Peter finds himself suddenly the inheritor of Tony’s incredible tech. However, the trip suddenly goes awry as Europe comes under siege from otherworldly villains, routed by a cloaked hero, Mysterio. Partnering with Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Mysterio, Peter will fight to protect his friends while figuring out his place in a post-Iron man world.
Release Date June 28, 2019
Runtime 130 minutes
Spider-Man: Far From Home takes place after Tony Stark, aka Iron-Man, dies defeating Thanos. Half of the world’s population wakes up from a four-year “blip”, like a coma where they stayed the same age and everyone else grew older.
There’s Humor in Grief
The emotional song I Will Always Love You is used over a student slideshow to honor Tony Stark, Captain America, Black Widow and Vision, shown on the high school’s televisions. This is a hilarious use of an otherwise very serious song, which shows the sadness that the world has lost one of its heroes, but putting it over a slideshow brings humor to the situation. There were many ways to use this song, probably Houston’s most famous, and respect its deep meaning, but this scene was somehow the best.
2 13 Going on 30 – I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
Release Date April 23, 2004
Runtime 98minutes
13 Going on 30 is a classic early 2000s teens / young adult movie. The plot is simple: Jenna, a thirteen-year-old girl, wishes to be a grown-up, and suddenly wakes up in the skin of her 30-year-old self, played by Jennifer Garner. Of course, she has kept her child’s soul, and nothing will go as she dreamed of.
A Pop Hit for ’90s Jenna
The song I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) comes on when Jenna puts on makeup and gets on the elevator with her young neighbor Becky, who incredulously watches the woman dressed in 90s teenage garb and readjusting her chest. The high-beat pop song brings a touch of humor to the scene, following the old-young Jenna as she gets ready for her “new” adult life. It is an iconic moment in movie history, a needle drop like only the late ’90s and early 2000s could do.
1 I Wanna Dance with Somebody – I Didn’t Know My Own Strength
Release Date December 21, 2022
Director Kasi Lemmons
What better to be placed first than the documentary about the legend herself, I Wanna Dance with Somebody. It retells the life of the singer, her fame, but also her struggle with little left aside. Albeit not so highly rated, the musical documentary is a treasure trove of anecdotes about the singer for all her fans.
A Song about Getting Out of Rehab
I Didn’t Know My Own Strength is used at the best possible moment: when she comes out of rehabilitation for drugs and alcohol addiction, and holds her first concert. It is a song raw with emotion, that tells the story of a woman who has lost her dream and soul, who has to start anew, just like somebody who successfully went through rehab. What better needle drop than in the movie about the artist herself?
No matter how short, a scene featuring a song by Whitney Houston will always bring soul to it. Some movies have even decided and managed to base their entire score on Whitney Houston songs, namely The Bodyguard and The Preacher’s Wife, making for purely unforgettable movies. Though Whitney Houston left us in 2012, her voice and her legacy continue to carry on.
You can view the original article HERE.
