Oprah Winfrey’s “Run On”: The Theme Song Whitney Houston Wouldn’t Let Her Forget
Oprah Winfrey has conquered television, movies, publishing and just about every other corner of the media world. But for one brief moment in the late 1990s, she tried something a little different: singing.
In 1998, Winfrey recorded “Run On,” her own version of an old Black spiritual. The gospel-inspired track became the theme song for the 13th season of The Oprah Winfrey Show, complete with a music video featuring Oprah singing, dancing and surrounded by backup vocalists.
There was actually a meaningful reason behind the unusual career detour. Oprah was considering whether she wanted to continue her enormously successful talk show. After turning to her faith for guidance, she decided she needed to “run on” and keep going. The old spiritual seemed like the perfect musical expression of that decision.
There was just one problem.
Oprah was not exactly Whitney Houston.
Years later, Oprah has been wonderfully willing to admit it. During a 2026 appearance on Keke Palmer’s Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast, she called recording “Run On” “one of the mistakes of my career.” Oprah explained that she even took singing lessons and brought in a church choir to support the recording — but, in her assessment, none of it could disguise the fact that singing simply wasn’t her calling.
Thankfully, Whitney Houston was around to make sure Oprah never forgot it.
Whitney Houston Chooses Violence — Musically
Some of the funniest footage connected to “Run On” comes from Whitney’s appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Whitney clearly knew Oprah was a little embarrassed by her short-lived recording career, which naturally made the song irresistible.
During a 1999 appearance, Oprah even joked that she had asked producers not to play “Run On” because Whitney was coming on the show. Whitney, of course, responded by singing it anyway.
It became one of those delightful examples of Whitney Houston’s mischievous sense of humor. She could deliver a joke with a perfectly straight face, sing just enough of the song to make her point and then sit there looking completely innocent while Oprah realized she was being roasted on her own television show.
And Whitney apparently wasn't finished.
Another wonderful clip comes from the era when Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey appeared together on Oprah while promoting “When You Believe,” their powerhouse duet from The Prince of Egypt. Seeing two of the greatest singers of their generation sitting together was already television history — but Whitney once again found an opportunity to tease Oprah about her own contribution to the music industry.
The contrast makes the joke even funnier: there sits Mariah Carey. There sits Whitney Houston. Two women capable of vocal gymnastics most singers wouldn't attempt in the shower.
And then there's Oprah's “Run On.”
Whitney knew exactly what she was doing.
A Musical Misstep That Became a Great Oprah Memory
“Run On” may not have launched Oprah Winfrey into a second career as a recording artist, but nearly three decades later it has become a wonderfully strange piece of pop-culture history. Oprah herself now laughs about the experiment, while old clips of Whitney teasing her about it continue finding new audiences online.
And perhaps that's the best legacy the song could have.
Oprah may consider “Run On” a mistake, but it gave us something we probably needed even more than an Oprah Winfrey recording career: Whitney Houston relentlessly trolling Oprah Winfrey about her singing.
Only Whitney could get away with it.
And somehow, she always did.
Whitney kept trolling Oprah on her own show
