'Haunting' rendition of Whitney Houston classic, like you've never heard

Most people would agree Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) is one of, if not, the greatest pop song of the '80s.

The catchy hit won Houston the 1988 Grammy for best female pop vocal performance and was her fourth number one on the music charts.

And after Calum Scott sampled the song while he was supporting Ed Sheeran on his last tour, he was over the moon when he received blessings from Houston's estate to reimagine it as a duet with the late singer.

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"It's a surreal day for me releasing this song with Whitney Houston, it's just unbelievable, the honour of my career, Richard, it really is," Calum told Nine's entertainment editor, Richard Wilkins.

"Just when I thought I got rid of my imposter syndrome, it's come flooding back."

Calum is most notable for his cover of Robyn's Dancing On My Own, a rendition which he performed on Britain's Got Talent in 2015 and subsequently released as his own, peaking at number two on the UK charts.

And while putting his own spin on powerhouse hits of the past is a clear gift Calum has perfected over the past decade, he revealed it was still a challenge doing Whitney's song justice.

"In moments where you're editing the video of you singing with Whitney Houston's voice, it's quite hard to digest, I'm not going to lie," he admitted.

"There has only ever been one Whitney and will only ever be one Whitney, so to have that honour, it's not even a collaboration I could have even dreamt would happen."

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But if you think this is just another carbon copy cover of a pop classic, you'll be hauntingly surprised at the spin Calum has put on it, and all with Houston's family blessing.

"There was a snippet that my manager had recorded during Ed's concert and they sent it over to them and Pat Houston, Whitney's sister in law, got in touch and was like, 'this sounds phenomenal, can we send you the official vocal to record a duet?'" he said.

"So we got the strings in, we got keys in, I did what I do best, I took a pop song and made it sad, even though it's exactly the same vocal, I think just putting it on strings and piano, it isolates her in a way where you just listen to every word and it's in some ways, quite haunting."

Hear Dickie's full chat with Calum Scott in the video above