By Chris Nguyen
Features Editor
On the cover of her latest album I Look to You, Whitney Houston poses upright like a Greek statue, with a look of defiance in the face of her adversities. It is a huge turnaround from the tarnish Houston has endured this past decade, one that was marred by drug abuse, embarrassing public appearances, a messy divorce from Bobby Brown and one statement (“crack is whack”) that seemed to seal the end of her career.
Yet here she is, looking on with the same poise of her glory years. However, from the first song, it is apparent she is not exactly where she left off. Since her last album in 2002, “The Voice” has turned into just a voice. Her vocals have endured a lot of wear and tear, causing raspy low notes and muted high ones. They are far from terrible, but do not possess the same interpretative strength of her younger voice.
On the Swizz Beatz-produced “Million Dollar Bill,” the change is largely ignorable as she vibrantly exudes the excitement of finding new love, singing “If he makes you feel like a million dollar bill, say oh, oh oh.” It is a formula that also works for “Nothin’ but Love.” But there is far from enough material to sustain an entire album, as she resorts to tired-and-true ballads (“I Look to You”) and indistinct pop songs produced by the best money—and Clive Davis—can buy (“Like I Never Left”).
Lyrically, her many struggles are alluded to in the most general terms, as in “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” (I didn’t know my own strength/And I crashed and tumbled). Despite the attempt to be inspirational and universal, it ends up putting the listener at an emotional distance because she is unwilling to be frank about her past. Only her hoarse voice reveals the deeper picture of her troubles and grounds the album.
I Look to You is a respectable comeback album that plays, for the most part, to Houston’s core strength. However, that’s the problem: by attempting to retain her “I Will Always Love You” days, she is trying to be her former great self, someone the public has long forgotten.
