I Have Nothing

"I Have Nothing" is a song by American singer Whitney Houston and released as the third single from The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album on February 20, 1993 by Arista Records. The song was written by David Foster and Linda Thompson, and produced by Foster. The song is a richly orchestrated power ballad about deep love and commitment to one's lover.

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 Gold 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 the number one in Canada, the top five in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and peaked within the top forty in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland. It received various nominations, including for Best Original Song at the 1993 Academy Awards, for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television at the 36th Grammy Awards of 1994, and for Best R&B Single, Female at the 1994 Soul Train Music Awards.

Nothing to My Name

"Nothing to My Name" (also known as "I Have Nothing") is a 1986 Mandarin-language rock song by Cui Jian. It is widely considered Cui's most famous and most important work, and one of the most influential songs in the history of the People's Republic of China, both as a seminal point in the development of Chinese rock and roll and as a political sensation. The song was an unofficial anthem for Chinese youth and activists during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Both in its lyrics and instruments, the song mixes traditional Chinese styles with modern rock elements. In the lyrics, the speaker addresses a girl who is scorning him because he has nothing. However, the song has also been interpreted as being about the dispossessed youth of the time, because it evokes a sense of disillusionment and lack of individual freedom that was common among the young generation during the 1980s.

Historical context

By the late 1970s, Western rock music was gaining popularity in mainland China. After the Cultural Revolution ended in the mid-1970s and the government began a period of economic reform called gaige kaifang, many students and businessmen went abroad and brought back Western music. Chinese singers began performing covers of popular Western rock songs.