Whitney Houston, Where Do Broken Hearts Go | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 36^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” by Whitney Houston.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 36^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”, performed by Whitney Houston. 

“You see, I haven’t been the same / Since that cold November day / We said we need space / But all we found was an empty place.” Those matters of the heart – they’re pesky, aren’t they? Whitney Houston was a musical icon – PERIOD.  Throughout the course of her career, Houston earned 23 top-10 hits, including 11 no. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Among those no. 1 hits is “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”, where those love-infused lyrics hail. This song appears as the penultimate track from her 1987 sophomore album, Whitney.  It was composed by Charles Jackson and Frank Wildhorn.  Producing this sensation number was the talented Narada Michael Walden.

In the second verse, Houston continues to address this love situation. “And what we have is so much more / Than we ever had before / And no matter how I try / You’re always on my mind.”  Why is he always on her mind? She still loves him despite breaking up.  It leads to the centerpiece, the epic, memorable chorus:

“Where do broken hearts go?

Can they find their way home

Back to the open arms

Of a love that’s waiting there?

And if somebody loves you

Won’t they always love you?

I look in your eyes

And I know that you still care, for me.”

Besides memorable, tuneful, and relatable songwriting, the voice is nothing short of remarkable – utterly stupendous.  This is Whitney Houston at her best, delivering a big, adult contemporary R&B ballad.  Her tone is gorgeous, and the nuances are exemplary. Basically, she hits all the right notes and more! The supporting instrumental is elite too – tailor made for her.  What more is there to be said? “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” speaks for itself.  Another triumph from an artist who had no shortage of them.

Whitney Houston // Whitney // Arista // 1987

Whitney Houston, Where Do Broken Hearts Go: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 36 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Arista; OpenClipart-Vectors, Speedy McVroom via  Pixabay]