We Didn't Know

"We Didn't Know"
Single by Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder
from the album I'm Your Baby Tonight
Released April 14, 1992
Format
Recorded November 1989
Genre
Length 5:32 (album version)
4:26 (album edit)
Label Arista
Songwriter(s) Stevie Wonder
Producer(s) Stevie Wonder (album version)
Whitney Houston singles chronology
"I Belong to You"
(1991)		 "We Didn't Know"
(1992)		 "I Will Always Love You"
(1992)

"I Belong to You"
(1991)		 "We Didn't Know"
(1992)		 "I Will Always Love You"
(1992)
Stevie Wonder singles chronology
"These Three Words"
(1991) These Three Words1991		 "We Didn't Know"
(1992) We Didn't Know1992		 "For Your Love"
(1995) For Your Love1995

"We Didn't Know" is a mid-tempo duet by American recording artists Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder, and was released as the sixth and final single from Houston's third album I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990). The single peaked at number 20 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. There was no music video made for the song.

The song is about two good friends that realize that they have romantic feelings for each other and are more than just friends — they love each other, and they "didn't know." Houston and Wonder performed the song on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show in November 1990.

Critical reception

Rolling Stone adored the song and praised it with a long review: "Still, the key to the kind of music Houston sings on I'm Your Baby Tonight — the black-and-white, funk-and-dance-driven pop that is the soundtrack of this cultural moment — is "We Didn't Know," Houston's duet with producer Stevie Wonder. Wonder, who practically invented the keyboard-based pop that Houston and her fans hear as natural and contemporary, understands Houston totally. He knows what she likes about the expressive properties of ballads, about the passion of rock, about the well-regulated technological zing of dance music. So, as he's done before in his own music and with other singers, he puts all of this — the barreling rhythm tracks, the soaring choruses, the personable background voices — at the service of "We Didn't Know," which is about when "innocent friends/Turn serious lovers." Chances are — and with any luck — this emotionally engaged song on Whitney Houston's consistent and resourceful album will affect the music she sings for the rest of her life."[1] Entertainment Weekly's David Browne called the song "sluggish" and that this contribution "blends into the mush."[2] J. D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun wrote: "We Didn't Know," in which Houston merely follows the lead of duet partner Stevie Wonder, also has its pleasures, most of which stem from Wonder's deliciously idiosyncratic writing."[3]

Track listing

Us CD Single[4]

  1. We Didn't Know (Remix Edit) 4:45
  2. We Didn't Know (Album Edit) 4:26
  3. We Didn't Know (Extended Remix) 6:14

Charts

Chart (1992) Peak
position
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[5] 20

Personnel

Credits
  • Producer, writer, vocal arrangement — Stevie Wonder
  • All instruments — Stevie Wonder
  • Background vocals — Kimberly Brewer, Lynne Fiddmont-Linsey, Dorian Holley, Keith John
  • Engineer, mixer — Bobby Brooks
  • Assistant engineer — Steve VanArden, Danny Normando
  • Sound design — Robert Arbittier
  • Stevland Morris Music Project Coordinator — Stephanie Andrews
Recording and mixing
  • Recorded and mixed at Wonderland Studios, Los Angeles
  • Lead vocals recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, New York City

References

  1. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/im-your-baby-tonight-19910110
  2. ↑ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,318684,00.html
  3. ↑ http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1990-11-06/features/1990310039_1_whitney-houston-vandross-funk-groove
  4. ↑ We Didn't Know on Discogs.com
  5. ↑ "Whitney Houston Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
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