- [Interviewer] So is this, pretty much,
the way you head over to most of the shows?
In this--
- [Whitney] I get in the Expedition.
- [Interviewer] Type of vehicle?
(laughing)
- [Whitney] I go to work. (laughing)
- [Interviewer] All right.
What goes through your head?
Like, what's coming up, the show, the city?
- [Whitney] Let me think, um.
Yeah, what really goes through my head is
how, what note I'm going to really start out with.
You know what I mean?
Just in the groove of my show.
I know the show, they don't know the show.
- [Interviewer] Right.
- So it's like, how am I gonna hit 'em, you know?
(upbeat music)
(audience cheering)
Can they hear me?
Can you hear me?
- Yeah.
- Check one two, check one two.
Am I on?
- You are. (chuckling)
You look great as usual.
Welcome to Boston.
- It's good to be Boston.
- Thanks for lettin' us tag along tonight.
- Yeah. - This is great.
- Good to have you guys.
How you doing everybody?
- Cool, cool, Whitney--
- Are you coming to the show with me?
- We are. - All right.
- And we're gonna go backstage
and we get to ride over with you, right?
- That's right, you're riding with me.
- Yeah, I think so.
- I'm gonna take you over, all right?
- OK, cool. - OK?
- Should be nice. - Cool.
- Let's head to the car.
- This is our car right here?
- Excellent, awesome.
- Dom, this is our car?
- Yes, ma'am.
- All right, bye bye.
(fans shouting)
I'll see you when you get there.
All right, see you later.
Right there? - There you go.
- OK, all right, thank you.
- So you know what I want to ask you about first?
We're here in Boston and it's been brought to my attention
that right across there at the Boston Common,
some 13 years ago, a young 22-year-old, I believe.
- Who was that?
(laughing)
Who was that?
- A young 22-year-old performed in the Boston Common.
What do you remember?
Take me back to that, to then and that tour
and what head you were in then.
- I remember I was at the same hotel.
I could walk to the gig.
That was the best part.
- [Interviewer] That's cool.
- [Whitney] Right?
Whole lot of people just flooded this park.
The Common was the place to come and play.
Where everybody could come out, you know what I mean?
And just standing in the shorts and shirts.
You know, and have a good time.
- [Interviewer] Yeah. - Yeah.
That was fun.
- Were you-- - That was fun.
- Have you changed as a performer since then?
I mean, were you more nervous then
or were you just a natural from day one?
- I pretty much think I was a natural.
(laughing) - Were you?
- Yeah, but you know, young.
You're young then.
You don't, I know a lot more than I know now.
- [Interviewer] When we see the Wang Center approaching
and the marquee up there, when you see,
even to this day, 13 years on, 15 years on,
when you see your name up there, does it,
does it still mean something to you?
Does it mean the same thing?
- Sure. - [Interviewer] Yeah, yeah?
- It better. (laughing)
Yeah and they spelled it right too, yeah.
- [Interviewer] They did, they got it right.
(laughing)
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Interviewer] You know, cause I mean these people,
they've come out,
they've spent their hard-earned cash.
- [Whitney] That makes it worth it.
That makes you wanna come out, you know?
- [Interviewer] Do you feel a sense of obligation, then,
when you see that, know that they're there for you?
- [Whitney] You know what?
Really, it's like really tough if it's obligation.
I kind of see it as pride.
Like, I have a pride for doing what I do.
I am proud when I stand before people and sing
and they smile or they cry or they,
it's just a dignity and integrity that I have about it,
as opposed to, it used to be, at times
where it was an obligation.
But then it wasn't fun anymore.
- [Interviewer] Right, right.
- [Whitney] You know what I mean?
If that fun isn't there, there you go,
you gotta take a break, man,
and breath and step back from it.
- You probably feel the desire to give 110 percent
and that if you can't give that then it's best not to.
- Yeah, my best is always waiting.
I don't know, because one night I might give 115
the next might be 278.
And I said, wow, that was even better than the last one.
So your best is yet to come.
- [Interviewer] From when you leave the hotel
to when you set foot onstage, is there a ritual,
is there a routine you go through, things you do?
- [Whitney] There's only one thing I do.
I pray.
I pray to my savior Jesus and to the creator
because that is where I can gain my strength.
That is what's coming to my help.
So I know no other way than that.
- Amen. - Amen!
(clapping)
(soft music)
♪ Before you ♪
♪ Oh darlin' get ready ♪
This is a scarf that we use to wrap the--
- To keep it warm?
- Yeah, we gotta keep her all warmed up and ready.
Is this Dolce, too? Do they give you special throat scarves?
- Oh yeah, you kidding?
- Is it? - Absolutely.
- That's cool. - Yeah.
- So welcome to the Wang Center.
- This is the Wang Center.
I've never played here before.
This is interesting.
- Really? - Yeah.
This tour I wanted to do theaters.
I wanted that intimate space.
I want to do the intimate thing, you know?
I'm tired of looking out there and seeing,
now don't get me wrong, arenas are great,
but I want to see the people instead of going
can you see me?
(chuckling)
What am I wearing?
(chuckling)
- So it's like 2000, 3000 seats?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's – yeah.
That's my aunt.
That's my brother.
(chuckling)
- What's happening?
- My aunt and my brother.
- MTV, we're stalking Whitney for the night.
- Your tooth, head hurts?
Yeah, your tooth hurt?
My brother sings so well, he's like the –
This is my musical director, Michael Baker.
It's Michael Baker, hi.
- How are you?
- I am good.
- Good to see you.
I'm glad you're back.
- Yeah, it's good to be back.
You guys OK?
- I got something for you.
- You do, you do?
Oh, they are?
He is the best, I gotta tell you.
How much I love this man.
Thank you.
Now this is from my band, you know.
I was ill, and they thought enough of me
to bring me some flowers.
This means so much.
I got to tell you how this inspires one to do what they do.
Really.
(drums playing)
You have to see, let me see the one that you have.
This is Toni.
She does makeup, y'all.
And this is, of course, Ellin.
(laughing)
- You wanna put this one on top?
- Just put it right on top, yeah.
Just do it.
- [Toni] Right on the eyelid?
- Right on what you did.
Just do what you just did.
What I just did.
- You didn't always know stuff like this, did you?
- Yes, of course I did.
- You were just born that way.
- I was born this way.
No. (chuckling)
No, no, actually, honey, I modeled for a lot of years.
- [Interviewer] Oh, right.
- And you learn a lot.
And plus just by playing with makeup and stuff.
- [Interviewer] Has the kind of makeup you do
changed a lot over the years and from tour to tour?
- Sure, sure, sure, it varies.
From the "How Will I Know" days
to the "I Will Always Love You" days.
It's, yeah, definitely a variation.
(chuckling)
Yeah, right.
- And the hair, now, I remember when this album
first came out, you had the blonde thing.
And then--
- Yeah, yeah, that was a lovely moment that we all loved
and we cherish and we will remember it always.
(laughing)
Now we're moving on to, you know.
- [Interviewer] This is simple, this is cool.
- Yeah, this is the color of my hair,
the real color of my hair.
Nothing happens to it.
And I do this.
- [Interviewer] Exactly, there you go.
(laughing)
- Kristina, look at the set list.
What do you think?
All right, I think it's, is it OK?
Let Mommy think.
- [Interviewer] Does it change a lot from town to town or?
- It changes from my voice.
- Were there any songs that you weren't able to do
in the show that just for time or--
- Well, the "Greatest Love [of All]," you know, it's such a,
it's like "I Will Always Love You."
- [Interviewer] Right.
- So I had to toss up between the two of them
and "I Will Always Love You" won.
- [Interviewer] Yeah?
Flipped a coin, or?
- Well, no, I looked at the record stats.
(laughing)
- [Interviewer] OK, there you go.
(laughing)
'Cause I remember you--
- And she won.
- You have said before that "Greatest Love"
is possibly your favorite.
- It's my favorite, it is, it is.
It's just, people wanna hear "I Will Always Love You" a lot.
They do. (laughing)
- [Interviewer] All right, cool.
- All right?
- [Interviewer] Should we look at the clothes?
- You wanna look at the clothes?
- [Interviewer] If that's OK.
- Is that what you wanna do?
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- You guys in my closet and stuff, too?
Jeez, whoa, Whitney's clothes.
(gasping)
♪ All up in my business ♪
All right, all right, all right.
- [Interviewer] So Dolce & Gabbana all, right?
- This is Dolce & Gabbana everything to the underwear.
(laughing)
It's Dolce, yeah.
- A lot of jewels and embroidery, I noticed.
A lot of stuff like that.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, studs.
Lots of shine.
You have to shine onstage.
So what, which outfit goes for what section of the show?
- OK, all right, this is how we do this.
All right, and I gotta go sing in a minute.
So you guys are gonna have to go.
This is for the opening, OK?
Then I do a gown thing over here.
Right, right, right, right, right.
OK, you know what I mean?
OK, then we go down here and we come out with this
which is possibly the last number, and that's it, yeah.
You and I been together a long time.
- [Interviewer] I know, yeah.
- I know, right? It's been a long time.
It's good to see you.
- I can remember when, you too,
I can't remember when the first interview was.
- I know, but it was somewhere in New York.
- Yeah. - Right, right?
- It was a long time ago.
- That's right, that's right.
We were there when MTV was nothing.
- Not 13 years but almost 13 years.
- No, we're only kidding.
(laughing)
(clapping)
- Anyway all right, so.
- Guys, I'll see you later.
Peace. (chuckling)