# My Love Is Your Love
*My Love Is Your Love* is the fourth studio album by the American singer [Whitney Houston](https://www.edgepedia.org/whitney-houston), released by [Arista Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/arista-records) on November 17, 1998. It was her first studio album in eight years, following *I'm Your Baby Tonight* (1990), and it marked a deliberate return to contemporary R&B after several years spent on film soundtracks such as *[The Bodyguard](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-bodyguard-soundtrack)* (1992) and *The Preacher's Wife* (1996).[1](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-released-this-day-in-1998/) • [2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) Recorded in only six weeks, it sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and won Houston her sixth Grammy Award.[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist / album | Whitney Houston, her fourth studio album and first in eight years[1](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-released-this-day-in-1998/) |
| Release | November 17, 1998 (U.S.), Arista Records; recorded in six weeks[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) |
| Sales and certification | More than 10 million copies worldwide; 4x Platinum (RIAA)[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) |
| Chart performance | Billboard 200 peak No. 13 with 87 weeks on the chart; UK peak No. 4 (70 weeks); Germany peak No. 2 (69 weeks)[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) |
| Producers | First collaboration with hip-hop songwriters and producers, including Wyclef Jean, Jerry Duplessis, Rodney Jerkins, Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill, and Babyface[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) • [3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/) |
| Grammy Award | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "It's Not Right But It's Okay" (2000), her sixth and final Grammy and first R&B win[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/) |
| Notable singles | "Heartbreak Hotel," "It's Not Right But It's Okay," "My Love Is Your Love," "When You Believe," "If I Told You That," "I Learned from the Best"[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) |
## Background
By 1998 Houston was 15 years into her recording career but had released only three studio albums. After *I'm Your Baby Tonight* (1990) she had largely stepped back from recording, focusing on film and soundtrack work; the soundtracks to *The Bodyguard*, *Waiting to Exhale*, and *The Preacher's Wife* sold 50 million copies combined.[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1998/11/22/whitney-houston-all-over-the-map/c949c1d2-4348-4e57-9ab6-61b82267ed9e/) According to the AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Arista president [Clive Davis](https://www.edgepedia.org/clive-davis) pushed Houston into recording the album.[5](https://www.allmusic.com/album/my-love-is-your-love-mw0000176301)
**A new sound.** The album was notable for Houston's first collaboration with hip-hop songwriters and producers.[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) [Rodney Jerkins](https://www.edgepedia.org/rodney-jerkins), fresh from Brandy and Monica's "The Boy Is Mine," produced three tracks: "Get It Back," "If I Told You That," and "It's Not Right But It's Okay."[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/) Wyclef Jean and his Fugees bandmate [Lauryn Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/lauryn-hill) contributed as well; Jean co-wrote and co-produced the reggae-tinged title track with Jerry "Wonder" Duplessis, and Hill produced the closing hidden track, a gender-flipped cover of [Stevie Wonder](https://www.edgepedia.org/stevie-wonder)'s "I Was Made to Love Her."[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/) • [6](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/track/my-love-is-your-love/) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1998/11/22/whitney-houston-all-over-the-map/c949c1d2-4348-4e57-9ab6-61b82267ed9e/)
The album still kept room for Houston's established ballad audience. [Diane Warren](https://www.edgepedia.org/diane-warren) wrote two songs, "I Learned from the Best" and "You'll Never Stand Alone," and "When You Believe," Houston's duet with [Mariah Carey](https://www.edgepedia.org/mariah-carey), served as the Oscar-winning theme from *The Prince of Egypt* and as the lead single for both the film soundtrack and the album.[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/)
## Singles and chart performance
The album peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 on December 5, 1998, spending 87 weeks on the chart, a position constrained by its release alongside nine other major new albums on a retail day dubbed "Super Tuesday."[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) • [3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/) In the United Kingdom it reached No. 4 and stayed on the Official Albums Chart for 70 weeks; in Germany it peaked at No. 2.[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) It was certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA and sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/)
**Singles.** After several years away from the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100, Houston scored three consecutive top five hits from the album.[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/) "Heartbreak Hotel," a collaboration with [Faith Evans](https://www.edgepedia.org/faith-evans) and [Kelly Price](https://www.edgepedia.org/kelly-price), and the Thunderpuss-remixed "It's Not Right But It's Okay" gave Houston four No. 1s on Billboard's US Dance Club Songs chart within 13 months; "Heartbreak Hotel" was later certified 2x Platinum.[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/) • [7](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/whitneys-my-love-is-your-love-was-released-as-a-single-in-july-1999/) The title track, released as the fourth U.S. single in July 1999, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 1, 2000, No. 2 on the UK Official Singles Chart, and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart on September 25, 1999.[6](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/track/my-love-is-your-love/) • [7](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/whitneys-my-love-is-your-love-was-released-as-a-single-in-july-1999/)
## Reception and awards
The album generated some of the best critical reaction of Houston's career.[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/) [Entertainment Weekly](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment-weekly) gave it a B+ and called it "a primer on today's hip-hop/R&B scene: the good, the bad, and the Fugee"; Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield noted that 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."[8](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/20687-whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love.php) AllMusic placed it in "the top rank of her recorded work."[5](https://www.allmusic.com/album/my-love-is-your-love-mw0000176301) Billboard described it as "a tour de force that showcases her strengths in a wide array of musical genres from pop to R&B to gospel to dance."[9](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/whitney-houstons-my-love-is-your-love-album-was-released-in-november-1998/) The album won International Album of the Year at the NRJ Music Awards.[10](https://record.club/releases/albums/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love)
At the 42nd [Grammy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/grammy-awards) in February 2000, "It's Not Right But It's Okay" won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Houston's sixth Grammy and her first win in an R&B category, having been nominated six times before without a win.[3](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/) The album itself drew nominations at the [NAACP Image Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/naacp-image-awards), Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, American Music Awards, and the Edison Music Awards.[2](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/)
## Critical assessment
Reviewers consistently highlighted the contrast between Houston's earlier pop balladry and the album's R&B orientation. AllMusic's Erlewine wrote that Houston had never before tried so many different sounds or worked with such cutting-edge collaborators, and that her most convincing ballads were the restrained ones.[5](https://www.allmusic.com/album/my-love-is-your-love-mw0000176301) The Washington Post noted the album's split between ballads for her established audience and hip-hop-flavored material aimed at a younger demographic, and observed that several songs, including "It's Not Right but It's Okay," addressed marital troubles resembling those reported in her own life.[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1998/11/22/whitney-houston-all-over-the-map/c949c1d2-4348-4e57-9ab6-61b82267ed9e/) Critics praised the Jerkins-produced up-tempo and mid-tempo dance numbers as the album's real news, with the big production numbers feeling the stiffest.[5](https://www.allmusic.com/album/my-love-is-your-love-mw0000176301)
## Legacy
The album's success, followed by an equally successful worldwide tour in June through November 1999, reestablished Houston as a chart force in the late 1990s.[1](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-released-this-day-in-1998/) • [6](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/track/my-love-is-your-love/) It remained in print and was reissued on vinyl by Legacy/[Sony Music](https://www.edgepedia.org/sony-music) in 2023, including a teal blue edition.[5](https://www.allmusic.com/album/my-love-is-your-love-mw0000176301) In the United Kingdom it was certified 3x Platinum by the BPI in January 2000.[11](https://pop.news.chart2000.com/music/f0xs3w.htm)
## References
1. [Whitney Houston 'My Love Is Your Love' Released This Day In 1998, Whitney Houston Official Site](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-released-this-day-in-1998/)
2. [My Love Is Your Love, Whitney Houston Official Site](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/music/my-love-your-love/)
3. [8 Ways Whitney Houston Made An Iconic '90s Comeback With 'My Love Is Your Love', Grammy.com (Jon O'Brien, November 17, 2023)](https://www.grammy.com/news/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love-album-anniversary-comeback/)
4. [Whitney Houston, All Over the Map, The Washington Post (November 22, 1998)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1998/11/22/whitney-houston-all-over-the-map/c949c1d2-4348-4e57-9ab6-61b82267ed9e/)
5. [My Love Is Your Love review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/my-love-is-your-love-mw0000176301)
6. [My Love Is Your Love (track), Whitney Houston Official Site](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/track/my-love-is-your-love/)
7. [Whitney's 'My Love Is Your Love' Was Released As A Single In July 1999, Whitney Houston Official Site](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/whitneys-my-love-is-your-love-was-released-as-a-single-in-july-1999/)
8. [My Love Is Your Love reviews, Album of the Year](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/20687-whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love.php)
9. [Whitney Houston's 'My Love Is Your Love' Album Was Released In November 1998, Whitney Houston Official Site](https://www.whitneyhouston.com/news/whitney-houstons-my-love-is-your-love-album-was-released-in-november-1998/)
10. [My Love Is Your Love (1998) by Whitney Houston, Record Club](https://record.club/releases/albums/whitney-houston-my-love-is-your-love)
11. [Album artist 31 - Whitney Houston, Chart2000](https://pop.news.chart2000.com/music/f0xs3w.htm)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › R&B and soul albums › 1980s and 1990s R&B albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license