Two Emmy Awards, Six Grammys, Thirty Billboard Music Awards, and Twenty-Two American Music Awards is not enough to make college students care, even if you die.
Singer, actress and model Whitney Houston died on Feb. 11, 2012 from what appeared to be a drug overdose. According to family members it was “a combination of Xanax and other prescription drugs mixed with alcohol.” Her aunt had found her lying in the bathtub. The family was told she may have died before her head even became submerged in water, her medical doctors say.
Houston was known for pouring her feelings out in song. She says in her song So Emotional, “I get so emotional, baby every time I think of you I get so emotional, baby; ain’t it shocking what love can do?” It seems ironic that the Corban students’ response to her death is the exact opposite.
“I should care, but honestly I have no idea who she is,” says Jason Leon, a junior at Corban University. “I felt indifferent, I can’t be sad every day, because people are always going to die.”
Leon had heard about the incident on Saturday when his dad informed him. “I thought it was weird that my dad cared so much” he says.
Leon says Houston has had no affect on his life that he knows of. He realizes that her death is a tragedy, but to him, the bigger tragedy is that America cares so much.
“Young girls looked up to her and wanted to be like her. That’s sad. Mother Theresa would’ve been a better role model”, he says.
Other young people had similar responses. “I wasn’t a big fan of her music, I felt neutral when she died,” says Mitchell Wohr, a transfer student this year at Corban.
“I was like, ‘Oh wow, another one.’” Wohr says she was just casually perusing on Tumblr when the news popped up about Whitney Houston. “I just kept scrolling, I didn’t care.”
One student, Emilie Weiss, a freshman this year at Corban showed slightly more sympathy than her fellow classmates. “She was a great singer and I’m sad she died, I feel bad for her family, friends, and fans.”
Although Weiss states she has not gained a new respect for Houston’s music, she has become more aware of it. “That’s usually what happens when an artist dies,” she says.
Weiss says she liked Houston’s music because she could relate to it: “The way she portrays her emotions through her lyrical abilities and tonal abilities is truly inspiring.”
Although Houston composed a plethora of songs, most people have only heard of two. Wohr says her favorite Whitney Houston song is “I Will Always Love You” because it’s the only one she knows. “I heard it once on this show Futurama; they were singing it and I thought, ‘Hey, I think I’ve heard this song.”
“My favorite song is ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” I can relate because sometimes I just literally want to dance with somebody!” says Weiss with a chuckle.
“I don’t know any of her song,” Leon says. “All I know is that she had a drug overdose”.