# Miracle (Whitney Houston song)

"Miracle" is a song by American singer Whitney Houston. Written and produced by L.A. Reid and Babyface, it was the third official release from Houston's third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight and commercially released on April 16, 1991 by Arista Records. Much like the previous releases on the album, the ballad became a hit, reaching the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and also reached the top five of the R&B and AC charts, peaking at number one on the former's sales chart.

## Composition

During an interview with Jet Magazine on its June 14, 1991 issue, Houston said that she did not intend the song or the video to be about abortion: “I think about the air we breathe, the earth we live on. I think about our children. I think about a lot of things, things God put here for us to have, things that we need and we take for granted. I think all of these things are miracles and I think we should try to take better care of them,” she notes.

## Critical reception

Matthew Hocter from Albumism noted that on "Miracle", Houston was "returning to ballad territory". AllMusic editor Ashley S. Battel called it a high point of the album and praised the lyrics, "the powerful verses surrounding a love lost through one's own devices in 'Miracle.'" Billboard described it as a "soothing and romantic ballad", complimenting the singer's "warm and restrained vocal performance" as well as the "lush R&B arrangement". Entertainment Weekly editor David Browne called the melody of the song "indiscernible" and that the song itself is "nonentity." Rolling Stone editor James Hunter praised Houston's performance of the ballad, "when L.A. and Babyface follow her into ballad-land on the despondent "Miracle," Houston's own moods call the shots more clearly."

## Chart performance

"Miracle" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 63 on April 13, 1991, reaching its peak position of number nine on June 8 of that year and eventually stayed on the chart for 14 weeks. It became Houston's career thirteenth top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
The same single debuted at number 61 on the Hot R&B Singles chart of the same week of April 13, peaking at the pole position of number two for the week of June 22 and again on the week of June 29, blocked from the number one spot by Luther Vandross' "Power of Love/Love Power" and Lisa Fischer's "How Can I Ease the Pain", eventually spending a total of 17 weeks on the chart, becoming Houston's career fifteenth top ten R&B single.
The song reached number four on the Billboard Hot R&B Airplay chart and number one on the magazine's Hot R&B Sales chart both for the week of June 22, 1991, staying there at the top on the latter chart for two weeks.
On the Billboard adult contemporary charts, the song debuted at number 30 on April 13, later peaking at number 4 for the week of June 8, staying on that chart for 23 weeks. It became Houston's career thirteenth top ten hit on the AC charts.
The song became Houston's eleventh career single to reach the top ten of the Billboard pop, R&B and AC charts simultaneously.
On the Cash Box pop singles chart, it debuted at number 80 for the week of April 13, eventually reaching its peak position of number 14 for the week of June 1, while on its R&B chart, the same song debuted at number 69 and reached its peak position of number 5 on June 8.
On the Radio & Records Airplay chart, the single debuted at number 39 on the April 12, 1991 issue, after four weeks on the chart it reached and peaked at #12 staying there for two weeks, the song stayed on the top 20 of the chart for five weeks and remained on it for nine weeks.
The song found modest success internationally, peaking at number 17 on the Canadian singles chart and number 42 in Poland.
Following Houston's sudden passing in 2012, the song returned to the Billboard charts for the week of February 25 of the year, reaching number nine on the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart, making it one of the few songs to reach the top ten on four different genre charts.

## Music video

The video shows Houston by herself in an empty studio singing the song. As she sings the first verse of the song, sad images of people facing prison sentences and living in poverty. During the second verse, the images shown gradually changes to a lighter tone with pictures of children growing up, the handicapped winning a competition, graduating school and enjoying their lives as young adults. The video ends with various pictures of children smiling. It has since been viewed 48 million times on YouTube becoming her third most viewed music video from the I'm Your Baby Tonight album, while the audio track itself has been streamed nearly 5 million times on the same app. On Spotify, the song has accumulated more than 13 million streams on the platform.
Due to the manner of the music, it was widely believed that the song was about a girl who had an abortion, but later feels she made a mistake. Houston, however denied it during an interview with Jet magazine.

## Track listing and formats

* US, 7"Vinyl, Cassette single
** A1 "Miracle" — 5:43
** B1 "After We Make Love" — 4:59
* Japan, CD Mini single
* "Miracle" — 5:04
* "After We Make Love" — 4:59
* Promo CD-Single
* "Miracle" (Radio edit) — 4:29

## Personnel

* Whitney Houston – vocals
* L.A. Reid, Babyface, Whitney Houston – vocal arrangement
* Donald Parks – keyboard programming
* Kayo – bass guitar
* L.A. Reid, Babyface – rhythm arrangement
* Babyface – keyboards
* L.A. Reid – drums, percussion

### Production

* Producers – L.A. Reid, Babyface
* Executive Producer – Clive Davis
* Photography – Mark Bryan-Brown
* Design – Susan Mendola
* Recorded at Elumba Recording, Los Angeles, CA
* Mixed at Studio LaCoCo, Atlanta, GA