Whitney Houston - I Look to You

I love Whitney Houston, and I’m not afraid to say it. The woman has accomplished a lot. You’ve been around the block, Whitney, and in this day and age, that’s a whole lot harder than it sounds.

With her career in its third decade, much of her competition wasn’t even born yet when Houston’s first album, Whitney Houston, was released in 1985. For much of that time, Houston has had to contend with the inevitable backlash of being a commercially viable artist who’s still attempting to meet her own high artistic standards. On her new album, I Look to You, Houston seeks to silence those critics.

She comes out swinging with lead single “Million Dollar Bill,” a jazz standard draped in ‘70s, disco-era production. Next is “Nothin’ But Love,” where Houston confronts and undercuts her critics directly, singing, “To anyone who tried to hate on me/shout out, shout out.” Yet. she also shows a more subdued side on tracks like “For The Lovers,” which could have been written by a slightly more feminine Prince. As always, the vocals are the centerpiece of each song, but there’s nothing wrong with only doing one thing, so long as you do that one thing well.

The largest problem with I Look to You is that, despite being billed as a comeback album, there are only 11 songs. After seven years, an 11-song LP of slightly inspired material is not enough. Instead of saying her career is off life support, it might be more accurate to say, “We’ve found a pulse.”