How Will I Know

Album

Whitney Houston

Label

Arista Records

Genre

Synth Funk

Composer(s)

George Merrill;Shannon Rubicam;Narada Michael Walden

Entered Chart

Dec 7, 1985

Peak Date

Feb 15, 1986

Released

Recorded 1984

Recorded

1984

Catalog #

Arista 9434

B-Side

Someone For Me

This was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who record as Boy Meets Girl and had a hit in 1988 with "Waiting For A Star To Fall." George and Shannon were a romantic couple, and secured a record deal with A&M Records after writing a batch of songs together and playing the Seattle club scene. They spoke with Songfacts to tell the story behind this song. George: "They asked us to write for Janet Jackson's next record, so Shannon and I went to work and came up with our song How Will I Know, which was sent to Janet Jackson's people. They passed on it because it wasn't right for her at the time - she was in the midst of doing her Control album. Shannon: "It wasn't right for that, but then our publishing company played it for Gerry Griffith when he was in Los Angeles gathering material for the unknown Whitney Houston. He loved it, sent it to Clive (Davis), and Clive said, 'We must have it.' And we said, 'Whitney who? Clive who?' George: "Shannon and I had our first record deal, so we were caught up in Boy Meets Girl land, and the idea of writing for other people, this is pre-Whitney Houston and pre- our understanding of songwriting for other people, so it was really a big deal when they wanted to hold onto this for Whitney Houston. Then we started checking into it and thought, well, this could be kind of a neat deal. Our good friends, brother team Alan and Preston Glass, called us where they were working with Narada Michael Walden. They were recording Whitney Houston on 'How Will I Know' and they said, 'Guys, you've got to hear this.' They played it over the phone, and I swear, her voice, hearing the first take of 'How Will I Know' on the phone we knew we were on to something special, too." This is a very innocent song where Houston sings about trying to decide if a boy she likes will ever like her back. It went well with her wholesome image early in her career. Shannon sang the demo, which was done in a sweet, light, R&B style suited for what Janet Jackson was recording before her Control album. Narada Michael Walden, who has also produced for Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey and Lisa Fischer, went to work. Shannon: "Narada added his very punchy track and he did some rearranging on it and got us involved in some writing on the song. So it really was far more powerful than the demo we did and it sounded gorgeous and fun." George: "He had an idea for taking some of the music of the chorus and making a verse out of some of it, and as Shannon and I heard it, we thought that sounded like a cool idea, and Shannon jumped right in on the lyrics." Walden almost didn't take the gig. He told us: "I got a call from Arista and I said, First of all, I'm right in the middle of making this album for Aretha. I can't take my attention off that. But they said, You've got to make time for this girl because she's going to be incredible. So they sent me the demo on 'How Will I Know.' I said, the song's only half done, will it be okay if I mess with it? Eventually, the writers said it would be okay. So I rewrote it and cut it on the same session as 'Freeway of Love.' It didn't come out until December, but it was a monster hit. And it was all because when I met her, she was just mind-blowing. All that range and power and beauty and sex appeal coming at you with a kind of confidence you've never known before. I said, oh my Lord, you are really too much. She said, yeah, I know. After that a bunch of things came down the pike." (Here's our full interview with Narada.) The backing vocals are by Whitney's mother, Cissy Houston. George and Shannon also wrote Houston's hit "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)." They describe what it's like writing for other artists: Shannon: "When we're writing a song for other people, we tend to do more stringent editing. In some cases that's for the better, and in other cases it just ends up making the song sound a little too mental and not emotional enough. So I think that's just the thing that we keep an eye on when we're writing for other people, to not overthink it, really keep it emotional. Not really so much about what they're going to think, just feel how the song is going. George: "You want to make sure that the idea is clear and that you haven't put every idea into one song." George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam continued their musical partnership and released an album in 2003 called The Wonderground. They can be found at www.boymeetsgirlmusic.com. The video was directed by Brian Grant, who also did Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" and Donna Summer's "She Works Hard For The Money." Houston is playful and coy in the clip, where she is surrounded by energetic dancers. Grant recalls Houston being very grounded, showing up at the shoot with just a friend and a rep from her record company. He told her to relax and have fun with it, which she did despite being apprehensive at first about the bevy of dancers popping out at her. The choreographer was Arlene Phillips, who was later a judge on the British show Strictly Come Dancing. She and Grant were asked back to work on Houston's video for "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," which had even more of a dance focus, this time with Houston doing some light hoofing. Sam Smith recorded a slowed-down version of this song in 2014 that was featured on the Season 10 episode of Grey's Anatomy, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place." In 2021, French DJ David Guetta released a dance track "If You Really Love Me (How Will I Know))." He based it on an interpolation of this song. The British electronic music group Clean Bandit dropped a remix of "How Will I Know" on September 24, 2021. Their version peaked at #92 on the UK singles chart. All proceeds of Clean Bandit's version will go to Mind, the mental health charity. Clean Bandit consider this song Whitney at her best. "It was such a beautiful song to re-imagine," they told The Sun. "We went wild with the violin and saxophone!"

How will I know?
How will I know?
How, how will I know?

There's a boy I know, he's the one I dream of (he's the one I dream of)
Looks into my eyes, takes me to the clouds above, mm
Ooh, I lose control, can't seem to get enough (can't seem to get enough)
When I wake from dreaming, tell me, is it really love?

Ooh, how will I know? (Don't trust your feelings)
How will I know?
How will I know? (Love can be deceiving)
How will I know?

How will I know if he really loves me?
I say a prayer with every heartbeat
I fall in love whenever we meet
I'm asking you 'cause you know about these things
How will I know?
How will I know?
How, how will I know?

Oh, wake me, I'm shaking, wish I had you near me now (wish I had you near me now)
Said there's no mistakin', what I feel is really love
Ooh, tell me

How will I know? (Don't trust your feelings)
How will I know?
How will I know? (Love can be deceiving)
How will I know?

How will I know if he really loves me?
I say a prayer with every heartbeat
I fall in love whenever we meet
I'm asking you what you know about these things
How will I know?
How will I know?
How, how will I know?
How will I know?
How will I know?
How, how will I know?

If he loves me
If he loves me not
Hey, if he loves me
If he loves me not
If he loves me
If he loves me not
Oh, how will I know?

How will I know if he really loves me? (How will I know?)
I say a prayer with every heartbeat (hey, how will I know)
I fall in love whenever we meet (ooh)
I'm asking you 'cause you know about these things (how will I know?)
How will I know? (How will I know?)
How will I know?