Save the Best for Last

In 1983, Vanessa Williams was crowned the first Black winner of the Miss America pageant. The win proved controversial, and Williams received racist backlash and death threats from those who opposed her selection. Less than a year into her reign, the contest's organizers forced her to relinquish the title after Penthouse magazine announced plans to publish nude photographs she had posed for prior to participating in the pageant, without Williams' consent. Following her resignation, Williams distanced herself from the public eye and focused on reinventing herself as an entertainer, pivoting towards a music career. After securing a record deal with Wing Records general manager Ed Eckstine, she released her debut album, The Right Stuff, in 1988. but the ballad “Dreamin’” ultimately became its breakthrough single. Although her team was pleased with the album’s performance within the dance and R&B communities, Williams’ follow-up album was positioned to further expand her reach into the mainstream pop market. == Writing and recording ==

“Save the Best for Last” was written by Phil Galdston, Jon Lind, and Wendy Waldman. Galdston and Lind began working on the song during a March 1989 writing session in New York, USA, Lind began singing over a motif Galdston had been playing on the keyboard, which became its melody. The title guided the song’s evolution without a predetermined chorus nor structure. At the time, Galdston envisioned the title ironically, intending it to reflect someone hurt by their partner leaving at the end of their relationship. Perry's song ultimately remained unfinished, Galdston described the writing process as “organic”, emphasizing heartfelt ideas over formula. After finishing the demo, the songwriters pitched "Save the Best for Last" to at least three high-profile female singers, all of whom rejected it. Around the same time, Williams had been sourcing material for her second studio album, The Comfort Zone (1991), and explicitly told Eckstine she was not interested in ballads about pining after men. Williams thoroughly enjoyed and felt confident about delivering "Save the Best for Last", and recorded the track in one take. he enlisted Keith Thomas, on January 14, 1992. In the United Kingdom, it was distributed by Polydor Records. Although she considered "Save the Best for Last" her favorite of the album's 14 tracks, ==Music and lyrics==

"Save the Best for Last" has been characterized as a pop and pop-soul ballad. Peter Piatkowski of PopMatters described it as a "lush, orchestrated ballad", while Eric Snider of the Tampa Bay Times classified it as middle-of-the-road. As a ballad, the song was a notable stylistic shift from the album's first two up-tempo singles and most of The Comfort Zone's tracks. and uses nuanced, rueful phrasing on some of the song's lyrics, such as "Isn’t this world a crazy place?". Instrumentation includes strings, ultimately realizing he has been overlooking what had been in front of him. Music journalist Jason Lamphier observed that "Save the Best for Last" is lyrical anomaly among other ballads released that year, most of which were about rejection and heartache, whereas "Save the Best for Last" is about being friendzoned. Its opening lyrics "Sometimes the snow comes down in June / sometimes the sun goes ’round the moon" have drawn particular attention. Journalist Drew Magary said the lyrics make no sense, and ShortList's Dave Fawbert ranked them among the "worst rhyming couplets in songs". Galdston himself joked about getting away with rhyming the word "June" with "moon", Singer-songwriter Eric Hutchinson admitted that while the lyric originally confused him, he eventually learned to interpret it to mean longing, patience, and "holding out hope for true love until the last possible second, against all odds, and without a promise of the future". Some music writers have described the song as topical and poignant within the context of Williams’ career, particularly following the Miss America scandal that prompted her pivot into music and acting. Beviglia felt that "the song’s message of happiness after a long period of trials and tribulations dovetailed with her story". According to the writer, some of the lines directly "speak to the vagaries of fate and how it takes a special kind of perseverance to withstand them", making it easy to find parallels to the song's own career trajectory. ==Reception==

Critical response Upon release, "Save the Best for Last" received positive reviews from music critics, while Lynn Norment of Jet called it "wonderful". Larry Flick of Billboard stated its production and orchestration "Proves that [Williams] is possibly best suited to such soothing fare, as her crystalline voice is caressed by soft and wafting strings". Mike Joyce of The Washington Post named it the album's most radio-friendly track, and Arion Berger of Entertainment Weekly declared it a show-stopper. Dave Sholin of the Gavin Report opined, "while Vanessa is by now accustomed to chart success, this effort takes her to a whole new level" and "deserves to become her biggest hit to-date". For the same publication, John Martinucci said the singer "Gives this beautiful ballad a simple and delicate presentation that'll lift any romantic spirit". C.J. of The Minnesota Star Tribune described it as "the most beautifully constructed, lyrically perfect love song to a stupid man ever recorded". Other reviewers focused on Williams' vocal performance. While deeming "Save the Best for Last" the album's centerpiece, R. LaMont Jones Jr. from The Pittsburgh Press called it a song where Streisand would envy but "hard to imagine anyone doing it better" than Williams. Steve Pick from St. Louis Post-Dispatch described Williams' phrasing and dynamics as on par with experienced jazz singers. Randy Clark and Bryan DeVaney of Cashbox said the ballad is "Beautifully sung by Williams and tastefully produced and arranged by Keith Thomas". AllMusic’s Michael Gallucci wrote that “Save the Best for Last” corrected the early decision to mask Williams’ perceived vocal limitations with heavy production on The Right Stuff, demonstrating that, when given suitable material, she was capable of delivering a confident and effective vocal performance. Chris Rizik of SoulTracks said her "slight but tonally beautiful voice was perfect for the song, and her standout performance made 'Save the Best' one of the year’s best and biggest singles". Some critics suggested that the song contributed to Williams’ recovery from her Miss America abdication. In December 1992, Entertainment Weekly named Williams one of its “Entertainers of the Year”, with writer Mark Harris noting that the success of “Save the Best for Last” helped render the Miss America controversy irrelevant. Some critics offered more lukewarm assessments, describing the song as serviceable but largely generic. In 2021, Peter Piatkowski of PopMatters said the song's "overproduced yet still perfect" production is balanced by Williams' vocals. Stephen Holden called it "mostly generic" despite being well-made. For AllMusic, Tim Sendra called it a "smooth and somewhat saccharine" ballad. Scott Shetler of Total Music Awards called it "a fairly plain song with a decently warm melody and one of the better performances of Vanessa Williams’ career". Music historian David Freeland labeled it "plush, if unchallenging, pop music" which camouflaged with but was more restrained than the work of her peers, Mariah Carey and the late Whitney Houston. Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. That same year, at the Soul Train Music Awards, the song was nominated for Best R&B Song of the Year and Best R&B/Soul Single – Female. For recording "Save the Best for Last", Williams won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist at the 25th NAACP Image Awards in 1993. Insider featured "Save the Best for Last" in their list of the "Best Songs from the '90s" in 2019, declaring it as "a gorgeous ballad", that "has stood the test of time." Elle ranked it among "the Best Love Songs of All Time". ==Commercial performance==

’s “Tears in Heaven” from reaching number one, but later lost two Grammy Awards to Clapton’s song. The single was Williams' third number-one on the R&B singles chart and topped both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the US Cash Box Top 100. It climbed from 20th to 11th the week of February 29th, 1992, and was predicted to become her first top-five hit on the Hot 100, surpassing 1989's "Dreamin'" which had peaked at number eight. It reached the pole position on March 21, 1992, The song remained at number one on the Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, tying Paula Abdul's "Rush Rush" (1991) as the longest-running number-one by a female artist of the previous seven years. It prevented "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton from reaching number-one for several weeks, although it eventually lost two shared Grammy nominations to Clapton's song. The song also went to number one on the US Adult Contemporary chart. The ballad became the first single to simultaneously top the Billboard Hot 100, Hot R&B Singles and Adult Contemporary charts since Whitney Houston's "All the Man That I Need". Its simultaneous Billboard run lasted three weeks from March 28 through April 11, falling short of the record set by Ray Charles, whose hit "I Can't Stop Loving You" spent four weeks simultaneously on all three charts in June 1962, and tying with Diana Ross and Lionel Richie's "Endless Love". Williams' three week simultaneous run was, however, a record set by a female artist at the time. Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" would eventually break both Williams' record as well as the all-time record by Charles in January 1993. Internationally, the single reached number one in Australia and Canada, number two in Ireland, and number three in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The strong performance of the single helped The Comfort Zone climb to the top-20 of the Billboard 200, by which month the album had already been ten months old. It remains the biggest hit of Williams' career, and her only Hot 100 number-one to-date. ==Music videos==

There were two versions of the music video produced to promote the single. The original version of the music video, which primarily aired on MTV, was directed by Kevin Bray and South African Ralph Ziman in two separate scenes (holiday and B&W), and features Williams singing in a winter setting, intercut with closeups projected onto a screen in front of an orchestra. == Live performances ==

Williams performed “Save the Best for Last” at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards in 1993, where the song had been nominated for three Grammy Awards. At the time, Williams was eight months pregnant, Williams stated that, during the performance, she experienced visions of going into labor and was worried she would struggle to maintain breath support. In retrospect, both journalists and Williams herself have noted how society has since become more accepting of visible pregnancies at award shows and performances, as seen with artists such as Beyoncé (mother of Blue Ivy) and Cardi B. She sang it on the May 16, 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live, where she had been the episode's musical guest. Since the 1990s, Williams has performed "Save the Best for Last" live on several occasions. In February 2014, Williams sang "Save the Best for Last" during a "Love Day" concert at the Caesars Hotel and Casino, which received a standing ovation. Entertainment Weekly's Joey Nolfi called her performance "a gorgeous version". In 2017, she received positive reviews for performing it for Seth Rudetsky's interview-concert series Broadway Up Close at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. In 2018, she included it in her set for the Pacific Symphony's Pops Series at the Segerstrom Concert Hall. In December 2020, Williams concluded her segment of the livestream concert series Live from the West Side: Women of Broadway with a performance of “Save the Best for Last”. The concert was presented remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was held to benefit participating theaters. ==Covers and usage in media==

Waldman has performed the song live, both solo and as a member of the folk rock trio The Refugees. In 1996, Pam Sheyne recorded a dance cover version under the alias "Laura Blake". Alexandra Shipp covered the song in the television film Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B (2014), a biographical film about the singer Aaliyah, whom Shipp portrays. Aaliyah never recorded the song; her family declined to license most of her music for the film, requiring the production to rely largely on cover versions of songs by other artists. In the film, Aaliyah performs the song to audition for R. Kelly (portrayed by Clé Bennett). which she ultimately won. In 2024, Reid performed the song live at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. The song was used in the United Kingdom in a series of television advertisements for Bisto Best gravy granules during the 1990s. The commercials featured slow motion footage of gravy being poured over a roasted dinner while the song played in the background. Williams has confirmed that, despite her entertainment career, she is best known in the United Kingdom as the performer of the song used in the advertisements. featured a parody of the song in which Williams, portrayed by Kim Wayans, confronts those who did not support her during the Miss America scandal while flaunting her successful music career. The track is used during the closing credits of the LGBTQ+ Down Under film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), showing a drag queen lip-synching to Williams' recording. It is also included on the film's original soundtrack album. ==Legacy==

"Save the Best for Last" is considered to be Williams' signature song. The ballad is regarded as an "adult contemporary staple", becoming a popular selection for occasions and events such as weddings, graduations and proms, Singer-songwriter Eric Hutchinson named "Save the Best for Last" the song he most closely associates with school dances, especially during fall 1992 when "Williams reigned supreme". In the book Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Popular Musicians Since 1990, historian David Freeland asserted that "Save the Best for Last" is the moment Williams "became a pop star". Prior to its release, Williams had achieved some crossover success on pop radio, although much of her airplay remained concentrated on urban contemporary stations. Songwriter Kipper Jones, who had previously worked with Williams on The Right Stuff, stated that "Save the Best for Last" changed the artistic trajectory of Williams' career, shifting her focus from R&B toward a more mainstream pop audience. In 2021, Williams selected “Save the Best for Last” as the defining song of her music career, stating that its success demonstrated to critics that she could be taken seriously as a recording artist. While reviewing her first greatest hits album, Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years (1998), Michael Gallucci ranked it among the strongest songs in her discography and credited it with helping "certify Williams is more than just a pretty face". The author referenced the song’s title, writing, “given her talent and determination, we’ve yet to hear the best or the last of this extraordinary woman”. A year later, Galdston, Waldman, and Lind reunited to write another song for Williams, "The Sweetest Days", which became the title track and lead single from the singer's 1994 follow-up album of the same name. ==Track listings==

• UK vinyl, 7-inch :A: "Save the Best for Last" - 3:39 :B: "2 of a Kind" - 5:15 • Netherlands 12-inch, promo :A: "Save the Best for Last" - 3:39 :B1: "2 of a Kind" - 5:15 :B2: "Dreamin'" - 5:25 • Europe single • "Save the Best for Last" - 3:39 • "2 of a Kind" - 5:15 • "Dreamin'" - 5:25 • US maxi-CD • "Save the Best for Last" - 3:39 • "Freedom Dance (Get Free!)" (LP Version) - 4:13 • "Freedom Dance (Get Free!)" (Free Your Body Club Mix) - 6:59 • "Freedom Dance (Get Free!)" (Vanessa's Sweat Mix) - 5:21 • "The Right Stuff" (UK Mix) - 6:18 == Credits and personnel ==

Adapted from Apple Music ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Certifications==

The tune is the basis of the German-language song "Märchenland Gefühl" (literal translation: fairy tale-land feeling) and the Dutch-language song "Iets Heeft je Zachtjes Aangeraakt" (literal translation: something touched you softly), both by Belgian artist Dana Winner. Hong Kong cantopop singer Shirley Kwan also has a Cantonese cover version entitled "Why Us." (). ==See also==