My Love Is Your Love

My Love Is Your Love is the fourth studio album by American singer and actress Whitney Houston, released on November 17, 1998 by Arista Records. Following the release of her soundtrack to The Preacher's Wife (1996), Houston was advised by her label boss Clive Davis to return to studio work following three films and its accompanying soundtracks, two of which were fully credited to Houston as a single artist.

Inspired by the rise of contemporary R&B and hip hop, Houston decided to record an album consisting of those styles. Worked on for six weeks at Houston's own recording studio at her Crossway property in Mendham, New Jersey with additional vocal production in Los Angeles and New York, the album was Houston's first studio album since I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990).

Considered a "musical rebirth" for Houston, the album marked a pivotal shift in her career, defying expectations, embracing contemporary sounds, and highlighting her vocal talent, amid personal challenges and industry shifts. It was a musical departure from Houston's previous works, which had consisted of an urban pop sound, while thematically and lyrically, the songs include freedom, individualism, family, tabloid media and relationships, though Houston would stress that the album didn't reflect on her marriage to singer Bobby Brown.

Executive produced by Houston and Davis, the album featured edgier productions from Rodney Jerkins, Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean while retaining previous producers Babyface and David Foster and featured guest participation from Faith Evans, Kelly Price, Mariah Carey, Missy Elliott and daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown. Upon release, the album gave Houston the most positive reviews of her career and is regarded as one of her best studio albums.^[6] In 2000, My Love Is Your Love was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

Commercially, My Love Is Your Love proved to be successful, peaking at number thirteen on the Billboard 200 and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of four million copies across the United States. The album topped the charts in Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland as well as the European Top 100 Albums, topping the latter for six weeks. In addition, the album reached the top ten in Germany, Belgium, France, Denmark and the United Kingdom and several other international territories. The album would also be certified quadruple platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for sales of over four million copies across the continent of Europe. Eventually, My Love Is Your Love sold an estimated ten million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time by a female artist.^[7]

Five singles were released from the album. The first single, "When You Believe", won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and peaked at number two on the Eurochart Hot 100. "Heartbreak Hotel" was released as the second single and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and "My Love Is Your Love" both reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, while the latter became one of Houston's best-selling singles of her career, topping the Eurochart Hot 100,^[8][9][10] and the former winning the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. In support of My Love Is Your Love, Houston embarked on her fifth major concert tour, the My Love Is Your Love World Tour, with its European leg becoming the most successful arena tour of the continent during 1999. In 2023, the album was re-released in a vinyl edition by Arista Records.

By 1998, Houston had enjoyed a very successful career, releasing three studio albums and two official soundtrack albums from two of her films along with contributing to a third soundtrack for a third. Houston produced the successful Disney film Cinderella, which she also had a starring role and also contributed music to.

It had been eight years since Houston had released a full-length studio album since I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), which sold over ten million copies worldwide and became the best-selling R&B album by an artist in 1991. After Houston began her film career in 1992, Houston focused on that part of her career but still contributed a lot of music in the interim: The Bodyguard (1992) went on to be the singer's best-selling album ever, as well as one of the best-selling albums of all time thanks to signature hit ballads "I Will Always Love You" and "I Have Nothing", the former being the best-selling single ever by a woman^[11] and also won Houston the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, while the soundtrack to The Preacher's Wife, earned Houston another all-time record as the best-selling gospel release in history. In between, Houston contributed three songs to the multi-artist soundtrack for the film, Waiting to Exhale (1995), which was nominated for eleven Grammys, including Album of the Year. In addition, due to her reputation as a touring artist, Houston frequently performed onstage to promote the soundtracks, primarily from The Bodyguard and The Preacher's Wife.

But by 1997, Houston's label boss, Arista head Clive Davis wrote her a letter reminding her that she had "not recorded a studio album in seven years" and that she had only released several singles that "were chosen to integrate into the characters of two motion pictures" and that "so insofar as your position as the number one contemporary artist in the world, you are practically missing in action".^[12]

Since contemporary R&B and hip-hop were becoming the dominant genres in music at the time, Houston opted to record with some of its current hitmakers, including Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, The Fugees' Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill and Rodney Jerkins. Davis added the rising European R&B production team Soulshock and Karlin, while retaining Houston's previous producers Babyface and David Foster. Most of the music was recorded at Houston's home studio, Crossway Studios, in Mendham, New Jersey with occasional studio work at Jerkins' studio in Pleasantville, New York City and Los Angeles.

Due to this arrangement, it became the fastest-recording album of Houston's career at just six weeks, recorded mostly between August and October 1998.^[2][13]

That August, following the end of a brief tour of Europe, Houston had been approached by composer Stephen Schwartz to contribute vocals to his song "When You Believe" off the soundtrack to the upcoming film, The Prince of Egypt in a contemporary version produced by Babyface. At the time, Houston had no idea the song was being tooled as a vocal duet with fellow contemporary pop-R&B artist Mariah Carey.^[14][15][16] Houston and Carey later met at a studio session where they would sing behind a vocal choir and the meeting led to the two divas to become friends. Houston later mentioned that she and Carey were in talks of doing more musical work together in the near future.^[17] Upon the song's completion, Houston's label Arista and Carey's label Columbia, as well as DreamWorks, included the song on the respective upcoming releases of Houston's next album, Carey's first compilation album, Number Ones and the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. The friendship between Houston and Carey would last Houston's lifetime.^[15][18]

Jerkins had reportedly wanted to work with Houston since he was 17; when Clive Davis learned of this, he asked Jerkins to present a song to him. Upon doing so, Davis told him he thought that it was "one of the worst songs [he] ever heard in [his] life" but encouraged him to "keep working".^[19] After his success with Brandy off the singer's sophomore album, Never Say Never (1998), to which fellow Arista recording act Monica participated in the hit duet, "The Boy is Mine", Davis requested Jerkins to write for Houston's next studio album.^[19] According to Davis, "It's Not Right but It's Okay" was the first song presented to him and Houston while the two went over songs late at night at Davis' bungalow at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. Houston reportedly jumped on the sofa, danced and sung along to the track upon hearing it and agreed to record it.

Jerkins stated that upon arriving at Houston's Mendham house that she told him she wasn't ready to record because she was suffering from bronchitis at the time.^[19] Four days passed until Houston was ready. In between that time, the two would begin "praying together" and at one point, Houston visited the church of Jerkins' father in Pleasantville where she gave a performance to the delight of the Jerkins family.

Shortly afterwards, Houston recorded her vocal for "It's Not Right but It's Okay", in which Jerkins claimed, "jumpstarted" the production of Houston's album.^[19] According to the producer, only twenty at the time, Houston "took [him] to church inside the studio. She's giving you full-throttle effort at all times", adding that the artist "just does it the same extraordinary way every time".^[20] Jerkins hailed the singer a "genius".^[20] Jerkins and his team of composers and lyricists including brother Fred Jerkins III, cousin LaShawn Daniels and Toni Estes would provide the songs "If I Told You That" and "Get It Back". Houston recorded at both her Crossway studio and Jerkins' Pleasantville-based studio.

The relationship between Houston and Lauryn Hill stretched back to their days being neighbors at East Orange during the 1980s. Houston had wanted to work with Hill, especially after the former Fugees singer-rapper produced the Grammy-nominated Aretha Franklin hit, "A Rose Is Still a Rose". Hill originally wanted Houston to record her composition, "All That I Can Say", but scheduling conflicts by both artists forced a change of plans.^[21] "All That I Can Say" would end up being recorded by Mary J. Blige for Blige's 1999 album, Mary. Houston suggested a contemporary production of Stevie Wonder's "I Was Made to Love Him", which Houston changed lyrics along with a new arrangement from the artists. Houston's vocal group, Sunday, provided background vocals. Houston did some of her vocal adlibs for the song on her telephone through Hill's studio.

Houston was offered the R&B song "Heartbreak Hotel" after the R&B group TLC turned the song down. Davis suggested the song to include vocal guest participation by rising stars Faith Evans and Kelly Price. The arrangement was initially a struggle due to its complexity, which took Houston three attempts to match.^[22] Initially, Houston's husband Bobby Brown was given the intro rap of the song, "this is the heart-break ho-tel..."^[22] Upon playback, a stern Davis demanded Brown's vocals to be removed from the song, by which Houston was asked to do the rap herself. Later, while at their Soulpower Studios in Los Angeles, the producers looped Houston's vocals to bury Brown's in the mix.

On this album, songwriter and composer Diane Warren, who had only intermittently worked with Houston on the recordings, "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be" and "You Were Loved", the former a 1989 Grammy-nominated duet with Aretha Franklin and the latter recorded for the soundtrack to The Preacher's Wife in 1996, would be more active with Houston on the album. Warren composed the lyrics of three Houston songs, including "I Bow Out", which was co-produced by Babyface and Jerkins; "You'll Never Stand Alone", which Warren composed on the spot after spotting Houston playing with her daughter, and "I Learned from the Best", the latter song produced by Foster. According to Houston, she convinced Foster to "add those Chicago horns in it", having been a fan of the band Chicago and knowing of Foster's collaboration with the band in the past.^[23]

In addition to "When You Believe", "I Bow Out", and "You'll Never Stand Alone", Babyface also produced and co-wrote the soul torch ballad "Until You Come Back" for Houston at his Brandon's Way studio in Los Angeles. Houston worked on two songs with Missy Elliott, including the contemporary hip-hop song "In My Business", to which Elliott also provided a rap, and the quiet storm song "Oh Yes".

Wyclef Jean was asked to produce for Houston while he was finishing a solo world tour at the time. Jean and his longtime collaborator, cousin Jerry Duplessis, would come up with the title track while on Jean's tour bus. The song would be recorded at The Hit Factory in Manhattan. Jean recalled that while recording the song that he stopped the session because he felt Houston had gone flat or sharp on a note; Houston told him she wasn't flat or sharp, only that she "bend[ed]" the notes she was singing, which Jean was impressed by.^[24] Due to the presence of Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown at the studio, Jean and Duplessis decided to have the then-five-year-old be recorded encouraging her mother, to which Houston happily approved.^[25]

The title track was the last song recorded for the album and upon reviewing the content, both Houston and Davis agreed to title the album, My Love Is Your Love.

In comparison to her previous work, which mostly was a blend of R&B, pop, gospel and urban pop, My Love Is Your Love presented a stronger hip hop and R&B edge with some songs having elements of funk, reggae fusion and soul.

Houston later admitted the works of Aaliyah, Brandy, Monica and Mary J. Blige influenced the direction of the album's sound.

Most of the thematic and lyrical content from My Love Is Your Love also differed from her previous work. As Houston told Billboard upon the album's release, "I wasn't into the syrupy kind of vibe. I just didn't feel like singing 'I Will Always Love You'. I'm a working mother. I'm a wife. I'm an artist. There are so many things that go into that, and it's not like 'Everything is beautiful in its own way'."^[26]

"You have to keep up with the times, no matter how you feel about your own music and what you used to do or did,” Houston further stated. “You have to keep it with what the [current] groove is, and I can do that. Ain’t no biggie, ain’t no biggie at all."^[27]

Compared to the "soaring romanticism" of previous songs such as "Greatest Love of All", listeners instead found "an edgy realism" in the album's opening track, "It's Not Right but It's Okay", which many fans allude to be aimed at her troubling marriage to Bobby Brown, while the Missy Elliott-produced track, "In My Business" addressed tabloid scrutiny.^[28][29]

The themes on the album dealt with freedom, individualism, relationships, family and tabloid media, making the album a little personal and intimate than in most of Houston's records up until that time in her career.^[30]

Houston stressed that the album wasn't too autobiographical, writing in the back of the album: "The events and characters depicted in this album are fictitious."^[31]

My Love Is Your Love was officially released worldwide on the same day, November 17, 1998. Days prior to the album's release, Houston and Clive Davis hosted several listening parties in New York and Los Angeles.

To promote the album, Houston made a number of televised appearances and live performances of the album's singles. On November 13 and 14, 1998, Houston gave two shows at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City where she performed several of the album's songs. Two days after its release, Houston performed an expensive invitation-only charity concert at Cipriani's Wall Street's Grand Ballroom.

On November 23, 1998, Houston appeared on The Rosie O'Donnell Show where she performed "Heartbreak Hotel" with Faith Evans and Kelly Price and "My Love Is Your Love". On November 25, Houston appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show where she performed "When You Believe" with Mariah Carey and "I Learned from the Best". On December 7, she appeared at the 9th annual Billboard Music Awards where she performed "Heartbreak Hotel" with Evans and Price. Three days later (December 10), Houston performed "My Love Is Your Love", with Wyclef Jean on Late Show with David Letterman. A day later (December 11), the same song along with "Heartbreak Hotel" and "I Learned From the Best" was performed at the Rockefeller Center in New York City for an appearance on Today. On December 13, to promote the animated film, The Prince of Egypt, Houston and Carey co-hosted a television special of the film and premiered a second music video performance of the song together.

Houston performed "Until You Come Back" and "My Love Is Your Love" at the 26th American Music Awards (January 11, 1999). Two days later (January 13), she performed "I Learned From the Best" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Throughout February 1999, Houston went on a European promotional tour where in many European countries, "It's Not Right but It's Okay" was heavily focused on and promoted. She performed the song on several European TV programs including the Dutch TV show, The Surprise Show (February 8), the Italian TV show, C'era Un Ragazzo (February 10) ^[32], the Spanish TV show, Sorpresa, Sorpresa (February 13), the Brit Awards in London (February 16) in what would be helmed an acclaimed performance,^[33][34] the Swedish TV4 TV show, Sen kväll med Luuk (February 18), the British music show, Top of the Pops (February 19) and the German TV show, Wetten Dass (February 20). Additionally on Top of the Pops, which was held at Elstree Studios, Houston also performed "My Love Is Your Love" and "I Learned From the Best". After returning to the United States to attend the 41st Grammy Awards, Houston performed "Heartbreak Hotel" on the French TF1 TV show, Les Annees Tube.

On March 21, Houston performed "When You Believe" with Mariah Carey at the 71st Academy Awards. Five days later, after a brief instrumental of "Get It Back" and an appearance by Funkmaster Flex, Houston performed "It's Not Right but It's Okay" at the 1999 Soul Train Music Awards. On April 13, Houston headlined the VH1 Divas Live '99 concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York City alongside other legends Tina Turner and Cher.^[35] During her appearance, she performed "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and "My Love Is Your Love", the latter featuring daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown and Treach, of the hip-hop group, Naughty by Nature. On her June 21st appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Houston performed "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and "My Love Is Your Love".

Houston embarked on the My Love Is Your Love World Tour, which launched at the Arie Crown Theatre in Chicago for a two-date run on June 22 and 23, 1999. When asked why after her last world tour had her performing at large-seated arenas and stadiums did she decide to perform at theaters and smaller capacity venues during the North American leg of the tour, Houston explained that she turned down arena dates to do the theater performances to "do something where people can feel [her] and [she] can feel them."^[36] Due to this, Houston and her band were allowed to have a "jam-session" atmosphere. For most of Houston's North American dates, the singer performed two dates of the same venue.

For this tour, Houston hired fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana to give her edgier outfits for the show, which was a stark contrast from her more elegant outfits of previous tours. The singer previewed the wardrobe while appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show. During the US portion of the tour, Houston gained notoriety for canceling several dates of the tour with Houston pulling out either due to vocal issues or from exhaustion, including two dates at Newark's Prudential Center. A cancellation of a show at San Francisco's Concord Pavilion happened 15 minutes before the show, to which Houston was sued for $100,000 in compensation. Though reports of strange and erratic behavior and rumors of her drug use hit the tabloids, Houston would claim throat ailments were the cause of the cancellations.^[37] Despite the controversy, however, the North American leg of the tour was successful. Charging $150 a ticket, the highest of a Houston concert tour at the time, the tour made Houston one of the few artists to break the $100-per ticket barrier.^[38]

On June 27, Houston made a surprise appearance at the 13th Annual New York City Lesbian and Gay Pride Dance in New York City, performing the popular remixes of her hits "Heartbreak Hotel" and "It's Not Right but It's Okay". The performance would mark one of the first times a major pop musician made unannounced appearances and performances at LGBTQ events and helped to make such performances commonplace.^[39][40]

Houston's European leg of the tour would prove to be even more successful, however. Unlike in North America, all of Houston's European concerts were held at arenas and stadiums. Houston would end up with the highest-grossing arena tour in Europe that year, performing to half a million people. Due to high demand, the tour was extended to November.^[41]

While in Germany, most of the singer's concerts there were filmed for a documentary of the tour, titled Whitney: Close Up.^[42] Close Up was originally set to be aired as a TV special in early 2000 following the release of Whitney: The Greatest Hits, but did not air at the time. Some footage from Close Up was also used in the documentary Whitney: Can I Be Me.^[43] A similar but different documentary, also titled Close Up was broadcast on February 11, 2018, on the German TV channel ServusTV.^[44]

"When You Believe" was released as the lead single off the album on October 28, 1998. After debuting at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 on radio airplay alone^[45], the song peaked at number fifteen, surprising many who thought the song would be a bigger hit.^[46] Its modest peak at 33 on the Hot R&B Singles & Tracks chart was the lowest peak to date for both artists at the time.^[47]

The duet was a huge global hit, reaching the top five in the UK,^[48] Belgium,^[49][50] France,^[51] Italy,^[52] Netherlands,^[53] Norway,^[54] Spain,^[55] Sweden,^[56] Switzerland,^[57] and the top ten in Austria,^[58] Denmark,^[59] Finland,^[60] Germany,^[61] Ireland,^[62] and New Zealand.^[63] Thanks to popularity for the song across Europe, it eventually peaked at number two on the Eurochart Hot 100.^[64] It sold 260,000 copies sold in the UK at the end of 1999.^[65]

The second single, "Heartbreak Hotel", a collaboration between Faith Evans and Kelly Price, was officially released on December 15, 1998.^[66] Entering the Billboard Hot 100 at number 84 on December 26, after a commercial single was released, the song leaped to number 29, before peaking at number two six weeks later on March 27, making it Houston's first single to peak in the runner-up spot and was her biggest chart hit since "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" debuted at number one on the chart in November 1995.^{[67][68][69][70]} On the revamped Hot R&B Singles & Tracks chart, it debuted at number twenty three on January 9, 1999. In its first week of retail release, it shot up to number six and then climbed to number one the following week on February 13, where it would stay for seven consecutive weeks, her third longest tenure after "I Will Always Love You" and "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)".^[71][47][72] It would also become one of Houston's longest charting songs to date on the chart for 28 weeks.^[73][74] The single sold over 1.4 million copies in the U.S. alone, becoming the third-best-selling single of 1999, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA on March 2, 1999.^[75][76]

"It's Not Right but It's Okay" became its third single, released on February 15, 1999.^[77] Prior to its North American release in May 1999, the song was the b-side of the "Heartbreak Hotel" maxi-single and, as a result, charted on several Billboard Hot 100 and R&B airplay and sales charts. It debuted on the Hot R&B singles chart at number 64 on January 9, 1999.^[78] In its 24th week, the song reached its peak position of number seven.^[79] The song made its Billboard Hot 100 debut at number 87 on May 8, 1999. After its retail single was released, the song eventually peaked at number four on the chart on July 3, selling 522,000 units in the country alone.^[80][81] It was certified gold in the US on June 29.^[76]

The song became another global hit, reaching number three in the UK, becoming her twelfth top ten single there, and sold over 510,000 units, becoming the 25th best-selling song of the year in the region.^[82][83] The song made history in Canada by charting in the top five simultaneously on their official chart in August 1999, with the regular single reaching number three and the import single peaking at number five.^[84] Houston's promotion of the song in Europe helped to successfully reach several European charts, including Spain, where it reached number one.^[85] It would reach the top 20 in Austria,^[86] Germany,^[87] Netherlands,^[88] Switzerland,^[89] and Sweden.^[90] Due to its strong sales and chart success all over the European continent, it peaked at number nine on the Eurochart Hot 100.^[91]

The title track, "My Love Is Your Love" was the fourth single from the album, released on May 31, 1999.^[92] It was a massive hit worldwide, becoming another signature song for Whitney. The single was released in each European country around June 1999, prior to the United States. Upon release, the song was popular immediately across the continent, and became a bigger hit during the European leg of her My Love Is Your Love World Tour. In the UK, it peaked at number two on July 3.^[93] The single sold 525,000 copies there, becoming the twenty-second best-selling single of 1999.^[82][83] In Germany, it peaked at number two and was certified Platinum for shipments of 500,000 copies by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI).^[94][95] It also reached number two in other countries such as Austria,^[96] Ireland,^[97] the Netherlands,^[98] Sweden,^[99] and Switzerland.^[100] In addition, it peaked inside the top ten in Belgium,^[101][102] Denmark,^[103] France,^[104] and Norway.^[105] Eventually the single topped the Eurochart Hot 100 for a week, becoming her fourth number one single, and was positioned at number six in the Eurochart top singles list of 1999.^[106][107] In New Zealand, it peaked at number one for a week, becoming Houston's third number-one single after 1987's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and 1992's "I Will Always Love You".^[108]

Likewise, it was a hit in the United States. The song debuted at number eighty-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1999 and peaked at number four in January 2000, becoming her 22nd top ten hit.^{[109][110][111]} In addition, it reached the number two position on the R&B singles chart, spending a total of thirty weeks on the chart, becoming her longest charting single there.^[112] The single sold 1,100,000 copies and was certified Platinum by the RIAA on December 14, 1999.^[76] Worldwide it sold over 5 million copies and became her third-best-selling single ever, behind "I Will Always Love You" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)".^[8][9][10]

"I Learned from the Best" became the fifth and final single to be released from the album on November 15, 1999.^[113] The song debuted at number 83 on the Hot 100 and peaked at number 27.^[114][115] It reached number 13 on the R&B chart.^[116] According to SoundScan, the single sold 352,000 units in the US alone. Outside the US, it reached the top 40 in the Netherlands,^[117] Sweden,^[118] and Switzerland.,^[119] number 19 in the UK with 95,000 units sold,^[82][120] number 6 in Finland^[121] number 8 in Spain,^[122] and hit the top spot in both Romania and Poland.

In the United States, all of the singles reached the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, the most singles off a Houston album to reach the top 40 since Whitney (1987) produced five top ten singles in 1987-88. It was also the fifth of Houston's albums to produce three or more top ten singles. Four of the songs peaked in the top twenty and three peaked inside the top five. Nearly four million combined units were sold of the singles in the US.

The same results were produced in the United Kingdom, resulting in a combined total of 1.09 million units, making Houston the eighth best-selling singles artist of 1999.^[123] The singles also achieved success in other countries such as Canada, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Romania and Poland among other countries.

For the duration of the album's tenure, many of its singles were promoted with house and dance remixes, outside of "When You Believe", finding success on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart. Houston became one of the few artists to produce four consecutive number one dance singles off a single album, first reaching number one in February 1999 with the Thunderpuss remix of "It's Not Right but It's Okay", which became one of her longest running number-ones at three weeks,^[124] then topping the chart again for a week with the Hex Hector remix of "Heartbreak Hotel",^[125] later in the year with "My Love Is Your Love" for two weeks,^[126] and finally the Junior Vasquez mix of "I Learned From the Best" for three weeks.^[127]

Houston also topped the Billboard Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart twice with "My Love Is Your Love" topping for two weeks and "I Learned From the Best" topping for a single week.^[128][129] The two other maxi singles, "Heartbreak Hotel"/"It's Not Right but It's Okay" and "It's Not Right but It's Okay"/"I Will Always Love You" each reached number two.^[124][130] The remixes were sometimes played on the radio more than the original versions of the songs, as was the case for "It's Not Right but It's Okay", which has since been held as one of the greatest dance songs of all time by many retrospective reviewers and critics.

Upon the album's debut, the album received positive responses from music critics, and arguably the strongest reviews of her career to that point.^[139] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine commented that "It's easily her most consistent album ever—in fact, it's her first consistent album",^[135] and praised her mature voice as follows:

The former ingenue has some grown-up scars now, singing the marital blues with a bite in her voice that she's never come close to before. Did you think she'd crumble? Did you think she'd lay down and die? Then check out My Love, pal, and hear Houston prove beyond a doubt that she will survive.^[135]

Jon Pareles, in his review for the New York Times, praised her fully developed voice, too. He stated that her sound was "supple and devout", comparing Carey's fidgetting sound with every phrase in "When You Believe", and commented "Ms. Houston used to be similarly showy and disjointed, but now her improvisations bring emotional coherence to technical feats."^[134] With expressing his interest about any connections between her troubled marriage and her new materials, commented "Lest anyone draw other conclusions from the songs, the album carries a disclaimer."^[134] Also, he was almost positive about songs such as "It's Not Right But It's Okay", "Heartbreak Hotel" and "My Love Is Your Love".^[134] In Billboard magazine's review, the issue dated November 28, 1999, the magazine called the album "A tour de force that showcases her strengths in a wide array of musical genres from pop to R&B to gospel to dance."^[132] The publication also opined: "On an album with writing and production input from a diverse roster of players, Houston keeps it all together with her spectacular voice and singular artistic persona", declaring the album had "immense crossover potential"^[132]

Mark Bautz of Entertainment Weekly gave the album B+, calling My Love Is Your Love "A schizophrenic album" and "A primer on today's hip-hop/R&B scene: the good, the bad." by reason of the unevenness of the album.^[5] He commented "Wyclef Jean's gorgeous reggae-tinged title song and three funky cuts by Rodney Jerkins showcase the 35-year-old Whitney Houston in all her creative, soulful maturity. In contrast, a trio of schmaltzy Babyface-produced tunes expose her as merely a gifted interpreter of bland radio-ready fare.".^[5] Similarly, TIME praised some new songs, calling the title song "superb" and Houston's remake of Stevie Wonder's classic "fabulous", but criticized the old-fashioned songs of the album sharply, commenting "The problem is with the Old Guard: producer David Foster's work is dull, and Dianne Warren and Babyface, who both wrote tracks, have better work on their respective resumes."^[136]

Writing for USA Today in November 1998, Steve Jones made a favorable comment on almost every song whether it is a ballad with her formula for success or a new styled song produced by hot, young producers who've updated and diversified her sound, stating "There's something here for just about everybody, whether you favor R&B, pop or adult contemporary radio."^[137] But he chose the remake "I Was Made To Love Him" as the best track of the album, complimenting the song highly, "The rollicking, gender-flipping remake".^[137] Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic, who gave the album four out of five stars, called it "easily ranks among her best" and complimented the musical diversity "Houston has never been quite so subtle before, nor has she ever shown this desire to branch out musically."^[131] But he also wasn't positive for adult contemporary ballads of the album, stating "In fact, the songs that feel the stiffest are the big production numbers; tellingly, they're the songs that are the most reminiscent of old-school Houston."^[131] Los Angeles Times gave it three out of four stars, writing "[It] reflect her growth as an artist and as an individual."^[133]

Worldwide, the album's release was not preceded by that of any commercial singles, which initially resulted in it underperforming commercially. In the United States, My Love Is Your Love was released on November 17, 1998, when major records were released simultaneously for the holidays by high-profile musicians like Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Jewel, Method Man, The Offspring and Seal besides her. Time magazine wrote, "Music-industry folks have dubbed it Super Tuesday because more than ten major pop acts issued new CDs on the single day, making it the heaviest release date ever."^[136][140] The week of December 5, 1998, the album entered the US Billboard 200 chart at number thirteen, which was the peak position of the album, and her lowest chart position at that point in time, with sales of 123,000 copies in its first week.^[141][142] That result was disappointing initially because the release was Houston's first non-soundtrack album in eight years and was highly anticipated. But eventually, the album became a commercial success, thanks to a series of hit singles, her energetic promotions and a successful world tour. My Love Is Your Love was present on the Billboard 200 chart for over a year, at 75 weeks, and on Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 79 weeks, peaking at number seven.^[143][144] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album four-times platinum on November 1, 1999, for shipments of four million copies. According to the Nielson SoundScan, the album has sold 2,753,000 copies.^[145]

Across Europe, it was more successful than in the United States. In early times of its release, the commercial response for the album was short of expectations, but its sales rose sharply during the European leg of the My Love Is Your Love World Tour, which was the highest grossing arena concert tour of 1999 on the continent,^[146] and consequently My Love Is Your Love became the second best-selling album of 1999 in Europe, behind Cher's Believe,^[106] spending more than one year on the charts in many countries. In the United Kingdom, it reached number four on the albums chart^[147] and was certified 3× Platinum for shipments of 900,000 copies of the album by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). In France, the album peaked at number two on the albums chart,^[148] and was certified 2× platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). In Germany, it climbed to the number two on the albums chart on its 35th week and has sold more than 670,000 copies.^[149][150] The album reached number one on the albums charts in Austria,^[151] Switzerland^[152] and Netherlands,^[153] and the top five in Belgium,^[154][155] Denmark,^[156] Norway^[157] and Finland.^[158] My Love Is Your Love was certified 4× platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for shipments of four million copies of the album in Europe. As of May 2000, the album sold over 10 million copies worldwide.^[159][160]

Much like her previous albums, Houston received many awards and nominations from her work on the album. At the 71st Academy Awards, "When You Believe", her duet with Mariah Carey from The Prince of Egypt won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, which went to writer Stephen Schwartz, who wasn't present for the award.^[161] It was the third Academy Award-nominated song Houston performed on, after "Run to You" and "I Have Nothing", from The Bodyguard. The same song received two nominations at the American Latino Media Arts (ALMA) Awards, including Outstanding Performance of a Song for a Feature Film and Outstanding Music Video, mainly due to Carey's Latino (Venezuelan) heritage.^[162][163] The same song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 56th Golden Globe Awards.^[164]

Houston received three nominations for the album at the 2000 American Music Awards, including her seventh career nomination for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, her seventh career nomination for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist and a career fourth nomination for Favorite Soul/R&B Album.^[165][166]

At the Bambi Verleihung (or Bambi Awards) in Germany, Houston received the Pop International Award for her work on the album as well as her entire two-decade career.^[167]

At the 1999 Billboard Music Awards, Houston received three nominations, including Hot 100 Female Artist of the Year while her hit "Heartbreak Hotel" was nominated in the Hot 100 Single and Hot R&B Single of the Year categories.^[168][169] In 1999 and 2000, Houston received four nominations at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards including two nominations for Favorite R&B Female Artist and two nominations for "Heartbreak Hotel" and "When You Believe".^[170][171] Three of the songs on the album - "Heartbreak Hotel", "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and "My Love Is Your Love" - won awards for the songwriters at the 2000 BMI Pop Awards.^[172] While Babyface received a BMI Pop Award for "When You Believe" at the 2001 ceremony.^[173] At the 2000 Brit Awards in London received her sixth nomination for Best International Female Artist.^[174]

At the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000, Houston received four nominations for the album, including Best R&B Album, winning one for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "It's Not Right but It's Okay".^[175] It was her first win in the category after six previous nominations, dating back to the 1986 ceremony. Houston joined cousin Dionne Warwick and Toni Braxton as only the third artist to win in both R&B and pop categories. In addition, both "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and "Heartbreak Hotel" were each nominated in the Best R&B Song category while "When You Believe" was nominated for the Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

Houston was nominated in the category of Best International Act at the 1999 MOBO (Music of Black Origin Awards) Awards in London, losing to album collaborator Lauryn Hill.^[176]

At the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, Houston received her first nomination in over a decade since the 1986 ceremony,^[177] with "Heartbreak Hotel" receiving a nomination for Best R&B Video.^[178] At the 1999 MTV Europe Music Awards, Houston received two nominations, winning one for Best R&B.^{[179][180][181]}

At the 1999 and 2000 NAACP Image Awards, Houston received seven nominations, winning two with "When You Believe" receiving the award for Outstanding Duo or Group and her work on "Heartbreak Hotel" resulted in her winning the award for Outstanding Female Artist in the respective years while the album itself was nominated for Outstanding Album.^{[182][183][184]} At the NRJ Awards in France, Houston received two nominations, winning one for Album international de l'année (International Album of the Year).

At the Lady of Soul Awards, Houston received two nominations while at the 2000 Soul Train Music Awards, Houston received two competitive nominations for the album.^[185][186] At the same ceremony, Houston received the Female Artist of the Decade honor.^[186] In November 1999, Houston received a special honor from the Recording Industry Association of America, receiving the Century Award for being the best selling R&B female artist of the 20th century.^[187]

Notes

• ^{^a} denotes additional producer

Adapted from AllMusic.^[188]

• List of best-selling albums by women

• Heppermann, Christine (2012). Whitney Houston: Recording Artist & Actress. ABDO Publishing. ISBN 9781614801733.