I Look to You
Kelly Clarkson? Oh, how cute. Keri Hilson? Just adorable. Step aside. Jordin Sparks? Come back in a few years. Rihanna? Never in this lifetime.
After all this time, including seven years since 2002's uneven grab-bag "Just Whitney," the incomparable Whitney Houston shows up with her shining new studio album "I Look to You" and proves she has a talent that simply refuses to be written off.
It is true that Houston's voice is not the unstoppable instrument that it was 20 years ago. How many singers retain the full range, vibrato and ebullience of their youth into midlife? It is unfair to compare this fine vocalist, who tosses aside her younger chart rivals like nail clippings, to her 25-year-old self.
The plum list of top song writing talent on "I Look to You" - R. Kelly, Johnta Austin and Diane Warren being some of the most notable names - give Houston plush, state of the art material to wrap her signature voice around, and for the first time in eons she sounds maximally invested in savoring each syllable and absolutely delivering.
What makes "I Look for You" particularly remarkable is how well the self-conscious biographical thread the songwriters help Houston weave comes off seamlessly and without an ounce of pretense. Not only is this an unabashed comeback album, but Houston is ready to hit the clubs with her girlfriends, celebrate life and acknowledge her past missteps with a look to the future. This particularly informs the Alicia Keys-penned feel-good club thumper "Million Dollar Bill" and R. Kelly's soul-searching "Salute," both of which bookend the disc.
Houston's voice soars confidently with boundless joie de vivre. The kinetic "Nothin' But Love," which packs the nervous, unrelenting urgency of a ticking time bomb, is a particularly fine example. "There've been haters since this world's been goin' round" she confidently sings. "Why they take a dream and try to push it down? I ain't even tryin' to hold on to that now. I ain't got nothin' got nothin' but love for ya."
The songs rub against each other ideally. The emotionally manipulative yet achingly beautiful R. Kelly-penned titled track fits snugly between the warm island breeze of "Like I Never Left" featuring Akon (which is perhaps the most transparent example here of art imitating life) and the Stargate-produced velvety slow burn that is "Call You Tonight." The latter has the power to burn up the charts for months on end. Even the overly syrupy Diane Warren ballad "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" is an above-average selection, well-complemented by the mood of tracks that surround it.
She may not breathe new life into it, but Houston reminds that covering Leon Russell's unceasingly poignant classic "A Song for You" is worthwhile when the interpretive talent of the vocalist is sufficient. The choice to infect a portion of the song with hot dance beats (again, courtesy of Stargate) works surprisingly well. Other tracks, including the life-affirming "I Got You," which Houston co-penned, maintain the quality.
Whether "I Look to You" guzzles Grammys or falls off the charts in a matter of weeks, what really matters has already been accomplished - Houston has achieved a stunning, moving, entertaining return to form. She not only meets expectations but surpasses them.
Welcome home, Whitney. Please have a seat and stay awhile.
Get your copy today. I Look to You
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