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Whitney Houston has made some serious missteps in the past few years, many of which were documented by the media and even her ex-husband’s ill-conceived reality show “Being Bobby Brown.” Understandably, Whitney wants all of us to forget her past drug and marital issues and focus on her music again, which leads us to her new album, “I Look to You.”
On her first album in seven years, Houston makes it clear that she has fought her way back into the musical spotlight, hoping she can win our hearts back, while still accepting that there may be those who doubt her.
Before delving in too deep, it is necessary to address Whitney’s new voice. Once lauded as “The Voice,” Houston has certainly lost a bit of her range due, undoubtedly, to her age and drug use; but that doesn’t mean that she can’t hold a tune. For the most part, Whitney consciously stays within her new range—although the ballads sprinkled throughout tend to draw out notes that are less steady.
This is really this album’s pitfall: The ballads don’t really match the quality of the ones from previous albums or many of her other songs on “I Look to You” itself. The biggest proof of this lies within the album’s first leaked track, “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.” Certainly those who are looking for more of Whitney in her “I Will Always Love You” days will be drawn to this track. But, placed in the middle of the album, the song falls flat. The slow power ballad builds slowly and ends anticlimactically. Other songs, like “Like I Never Left” and the first single, “Million Dollar Bill,” just sound outdated and cheesy.
Interestingly, on “I Look to You,” the up-tempo and mid-tempo songs take center stage. Notably, “A Song for You” shines through in the middle of the album when its slow musical-esque piano tinkling gives way to a faster, synthesized dance beat. The slower Akon-produced “I Got You” really brings Whitney into the present. It’s able to showcase Whitney’s still-powerful vocals without straining them and put her over a modern hip-hop-influenced head-knocking beat without her sounding out of place.
Closing the album, “Salute” is by far one of the standout tracks on “I Look to You,” with Whitney proclaiming that she survived all by herself over a military-like snare. Again, Whitney sings extremely well within her range to great effect, showing that when she has the right song, she can hit it out of the park.
As Whitney says in the final song of “I Look to You,” “Don’t call it a comeback/I did it for years.” Whitney’s “I Look to You” isn’t really a comeback, but more of a reintroduction. As the singer tells her story, we are introduced to her new voice and her new style. Gone are the massive runs and the incredible power ballads. Replacing them is a faster-paced album that shows that, for the most part, Whitney Houston can still believably compete against the younger girls who run today’s R&B music scene.
