"I Have Nothing" is a song by American singer and actress Whitney Houston, released on February 20, 1993 as the third single from The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album (1992) by Arista Records. The song was written by David Foster and Linda Thompson, and produced by Foster.
After the back-to-back successes of Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and "I'm Every Woman," "I Have Nothing" became yet another hit, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and being certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The song also became a hit on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart, with a number four peak, and a number-one peak on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Houston established another historic milestone in Billboard chart history with the two previous singles off the soundtrack and this song, becoming the first artist to have three songs inside the top 11 of the Hot 100 chart in the same week since the chart began using Broadcast Data System and SoundScan data in 1991. Internationally, the song reached number one in Canada, the top five in Ireland and the United Kingdom, the top ten in Denmark and Portugal, and peaked within the top forty in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland. The song received various nominations, including for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, and Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B Single (Female).
The song was promoted by Houston with live performances on her worldwide concert tour, The Bodyguard World Tour (1993–94) only, and also at various awards ceremonies and concerts such as the 4th Billboard Music Awards in 1993, the 21st American Music Awards in 1994, Whitney: The Concert for a New South Africa in 1994, and the 1st BET Awards in 2001. "I Have Nothing" also features on compilations like Whitney: The Greatest Hits (2000) and Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances (2014).
As with much of Houston's material, the song has been an extremely popular choice on many reality television series around the world, in particular American Idol, on which it has become one of the most performed songs in the show's history; as of 2014, it had been covered eight times. "I Have Nothing" was also featured on the second half of the trailer, for the estate-approved documentary on Houston's life, Whitney.
Background
"I Have Nothing" was co-written by then husband and wife team David Foster and Linda Thompson. In her 2016 memoirs, A Little Thing Called Life: On Loving Elvis Presley, Bruce Jenner, and Songs in Between, Thompson mentions that The Bodyguard director Mick Jackson approached her to write a song for the film. Thompson, who was in a relationship with Elvis Presley shortly before his death, revealed that the lyrics "Stay in my arms if you dare / Or must I imagine you there / Don't walk away from me" was inspired by her time with Presley. "Having lived with the very biggest rock star of all time, I had a good deal of experience to draw on while creating that lyric," Thompson recounts.
Critical reception
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic complimented the song as a "first-rate urban pop song that skillfully captures Houston at her best". Larry Flick from Billboard called it a "booming power ballad". He added that it "has the same lung-bursting drama" as "I Will Always Love You", "tweaked with a quasi-symphonic climax that never fails to push all the right buttons. No need to predict single's future. Just count the minutes to its planting at No. 1." Another editor, Chuck Taylor, in his writing about Britney Spears on October 24, 1998, issue, described "I Have Nothing" as "bombastic and ultra-challenging." Jan DeKnock of Chicago Tribune said it is "yet another scorcher of a ballad" from the soundtrack. Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report complimented Houston's "emotionally-charged performance". In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote, "A classic ballad like the Whitney we used to know and love showing her voice off to best effect and making a deservedly high new entry."