"It's Not Right but It's Okay" is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston for her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love. It was written by LaShawn Daniels, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Isaac Phillips, Toni Estes and produced by Darkchild. First issued as the b-side to "Heartbreak Hotel" in December 1998, it was officially released as the third single off My Love Is Your Love on February 15, 1999, by Arista Records. "It's Not Right but It's Okay" examines a woman confronting her lover about his infidelity.
The song was remixed by several remixers and producers, most notably Thunderpuss, whose version eventually made it to mainstream radio stations. It's also notable for its popular music video, which featured Houston in a strapless black leather gown designed by Gianfranco Ferré, sleek bob hairstyle, choker, and dark makeup, a stark contrast from Houston's previous, more elegant looks in past music videos.
The song was a success on the charts, first charting on the US Billboard dance and R&B charts as a promotional single. On the Dance Club Play chart, with its Thunderpuss remix, it became Houston's sixth number one single in January 1999, staying for three weeks, becoming her most successful single on the chart in her lifetime, spending 14 cumulative weeks on the chart. It was Houston's longest-charting single on the Hot R&B Singles & Tracks chart, staying on the charts for 30 cumulative weeks, reaching a peak of number seven in July 1999. On the Billboard Hot 100, due to mainstream radio airplay of the Thunderpuss version, the song shot to number four, becoming Houston's 21st career top-10 hit. In Spain, it became Houston's fourth career chart-topper. The song reached the top five in Canada, Iceland, Poland and the United Kingdom, while also reaching the top 10 in Italy and the Netherlands and the top 20 in Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Its success in Europe helped to land it inside the top 10 on the Eurochart Hot 100.
Houston won the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and the International Dance Music Award for Best Pop 12" Dance Record for the song in 2000.
In 2025, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original song's release, Houston's former record label Arista released another official house remix of the song by remixer Felix Jaehn. This version became a hit, reaching the charts in Estonia, Croatia, Israel and the Czech Republic, reaching number one in the lattermost country, marking Houston's first number-one single in the region and her first official number one single of the 2020s.
In 2003, Q Magazine ranked "It's Not Right but It's Okay" at number 638 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". In 2019, Billboard listed it as one of the Greatest Songs of 1999. In 2022, the Thunderpuss club mix was listed in the list of the 200 greatest dance songs of all time on Rolling Stone. In 2025, Billboard listed the song in its 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time list as well as its 100 Best LGBTQ Anthems of All Time list. The song has also been cited by Forbes, Entertainment Weekly and About.com as one of Houston's best songs in her catalog.
Background and development By August 1998, Houston had established herself as one of the best selling music artists of all time with three multiplatinum studio albums and two multiplatinum soundtrack albums. In between 1992 and 1997, Houston had taken a break from studio work to establish her film career. At one point, Houston's mentor and label boss Clive Davis wrote a letter opining that Houston hadn't made a studio album in "less than seven years" and she felt her movie work had her "missing in action".
That month, Houston recorded the gospel-pop ballad, "When You Believe", from The Prince of Egypt, which was later released as a duet between Houston and fellow pop-R&B artist Mariah Carey. While in Beverly Hills, Houston met up with Davis at the latter's bungalow at The Beverly Hilton and asked the Arista CEO to play her the songs that were being submitted for a much-anticipated greatest hits album.
One of the songs played was producer Rodney Jerkins' "It's Not Right but It's Okay". Jerkins had wanted to work with Houston since he was sixteen. Upon hearing of the musician's desire to work with Houston, Davis asked the teenager to play him a song he was working on, afterwards Davis criticized the composition but encouraged him to improve his music.
By 1998, Jerkins had found success working on material for Aaliyah, Joe and Brandy, with Jerkins having recently scored a number one hit with the latter artist on her and Monica's duet "The Boy Is Mine". Davis hired Jerkins to work on Monica's album, also titled The Boy Is Mine, where Jerkins eventually produced Monica's hit rendition of "Angel of Mine", which later topped the Billboard Hot 100.
Jerkins eventually got his wish to work with Houston after sending Davis the demo of "It's Not Right". The song was co-composed by his Darkchild production team, which included his brother Fred Jerkins III, cousin LaShawn Daniels and longtime friend Isaac Phillips along with singer-songwriter Toni Estes, who sang on the demo track. When Houston heard it, according to Davis, to his amazement, she "had learned the lyrics and she started singing — with each playback she started over and it wasn’t long before she totally owned [the song] finding meaning I’m sure the composers never even suspected was there."
Recording and production Original Rodney Jerkins version
Houston had returned from a ten-date tour of Europe when Jerkins was sent to Houston's Crossway recording studio located near her residence at Mendham Township, New Jersey. According to Jerkins, Houston told him she wasn't ready to record due to contracting bronchitis. Jerkins claimed it took "four days" before Houston finally emerged at the studio but during those four days, he got to spend time with Houston. According to Jerkins, one of the first things Houston told him was, "you're a church boy, ain't you", with Jerkins noting that Houston likely recognized some gospel-inflected chords in the song's demo.
On one of those days, Houston asked Jerkins, whose father was a preacher, for directions to appear at his father's church in Pleasantville, New Jersey. Despite telling her that it was a long drive from Mendham, Houston showed up and then gave a performance of "God Will Take Care of You". Jerkins claimed the pair engaged in meditation and prayer.
Eventually, Houston entered the Crossway studio to record her vocals on the song. Much like she had done with her songs, Houston was the vocal arranger. Jerkins stated that upon first recording Houston that she "took [him] to church inside the studio. She's giving you full-throttle effort at all times", adding that the artist "[did] it the same extraordinary way every time". Jerkins called Houston a "genius".
Jerkins claimed later that the song "jumpstarted" production on what became the My Love Is Your Love album. Jerkins would create a quiet storm ballad rendition of "It's Not Right but It's Okay", labeling it the "RJ Smooth Mix".
Thunderpuss version
Chris Cox and Barry Harris of the house remix/production team Thunderpuss had recently released a successful remix of Billie Myers' "Kiss the Rain" when they were approached by Arista vice president of A&R Hosh Gureli at the gay nightclub Splash in Manhattan of the choice of remixing either "If I Told You That" or "It's Not Right but It's Okay" for Houston in November 1998, just as the My Love Is Your Love album was released.
Cox told Fader in 2017 that the duo decided on the latter song because it was "the easiest way... to go with" and because "[the original version] is quite chilled out — not quite 2-step — but R&Bish. Her voice seemed to have more assertiveness that would appeal more to a dance record."
When asked if they felt any pressure on producing what they called Houston's "comeback record", Cox denied it saying "[the] pressure was always internal. I had worked with big artists before but Arista was the dance label, and here’s one of the most important voices in pop history. So we were thinking, It’s Whitney. We can't [mess] this up."
Calling the Jerkins version "laid back and sleepy", Cox and Harris took more of Houston's adlibs from near the end of the record and pushed it to the forefront, while throwing away the rest of the song, only keeping Houston's lead vocal and background vocals. Eventually two versions—a radio version and an extended nine-minute club version—was created.
Barry & Chris created brand new instrumentation by recomposing & replaying new keyboards, drums and reinvented the music from the ground up.
Composition "It's Not Right but It's Okay" is a R&B and neo soul song. According to the sheet music published at Universal Music Publishing, the song mainly plays in the keys of Fm and Cm and has a moderately fast funk tempo with a time signature of common time with 126 beats per minute. Houston's vocals span from G3 to A5 in the song. The Thunderpuss version is set at a dance tempo of 132 beats per minute, starting at the key of Cm.
Release The song was initially released as the b-side to "Heartbreak Hotel", on December 15, 1998. Remixes of the song by Johnny Vicious were included on the domestic CD maxi-single. The KCC remix was included on the US version of the "My Love Is Your Love" maxi-single, released in May 1999. The song was released as a commercial retail single that same month and featured the Thunderpuss remixes as well as remixes by Club 69 and Rodney Jerkins.
The song had already entered the US dance and R&B charts when it was officially released in Europe in February 1999 as the official third single from the album. The original Jerkins single was played on the radio but by spring, mainstream spins and retail sales were given to the Thunderpuss mix, which many claimed was responsible for its US pop chart success.
The Thunderpuss version was placed on Houston's first compilation album, Whitney: The Greatest Hits (2000). The original album version was included in The Ultimate Collection (2007) as well as the second international disc of I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston (2012).
Critical reception The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised Houston's vocal performance, its contemporary R&B production, and its appeal as a dance track. Bill Lamb of About.com described the song as a "hard-hitting anthem for women on the way out of relationships," praising its appeal both on radio and on the dance floor. J. D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun praised the song's portrayal of a woman confronting an abusive and unfaithful partner, while cautioning against interpreting its lyrics as a direct reference to contemporary reports concerning Houston's then-husband, Bobby Brown. Jon Pareles of the New York Times highlighted Jerkins' production, particularly its tense keyboard arrangement and electronic rhythm. He also praised Houston's increasingly forceful and syncopated vocal delivery, which gave the song a more assertive character than her traditional ballads. Chuck Taylor of Billboard similarly praised the song's contemporary sound, highlighting Jerkins's "jittery funk beat" and Houston's forceful performance. He described the single as "appealing and refreshing," while noting that Jerkins's Smooth remix provided a softer alternative for listeners more accustomed to Houston's ballads.