Loading ...From Whitney Houston, a hit, a hymn, a prayer
flockwoodWhitney Houston has just released the first single from her new album, and it’s beautiful. You can download the entire song here for free.
“I Look to You” isn’t a love song, it’s a prodigal daughter’s Psalm. And it’s powerful — far better than any gospel song she’s ever recorded.
This lead single isn’t perfectly polished. It sounds rough, real, vulnerable and absolutely glorious.
In an interview with MTV, Whitney says that through all the dark times, “I kept my faith.”
July 30th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
It’s a song that represents the rehabilitation of two artists, not just one. R. Kelley wrote it!
July 30th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
That makes it doubly powerful, doesn’t it. Niall, I saw Whitney Houston in concert in 1985, right before “Saving All My Love For You” went to number 1. She was extraordinary but little known at that point. I had a seat on the sixth row. It was my first real concert, and I was in heaven. I’ve been rooting for her ever since. Hard to believe it’s been 24 years…
July 31st, 2009 at 9:13 am
I’ve always loved the sound of Whitney Houston’s voice, but of course she gets it honestly, from her mother, Cissy Houston, a great gospel singer.
July 31st, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Well, I think Whitney is very talented. I think she has suffered due to how her talent has been packaged and sold by her record companies. She was groomed from the beginning to appeal primarily to a white audience, which led to her doing a lot of fluffy electro-pop (“I Wanna Dance With Somebody”), when she could have been doing much more interesting stuff. It also largely alienated her from the black audience (she was, famously, booed at the 1989 BET awards). Or her voice has been used like a battering ram, instead of as the lovely instrument it’s capable of being. Her version of “I Will Always Love You” is a good example of this problem, where by the end of the song she’s turned into the Red Army Chorus. If you compare this with the Dolly Parton original, the deficit is obvious.
But I do wish her the best of luck. And I hope R. Kelly can avoid marrying another 15 year old.
July 31st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Yes, as good as Whitney is, the Dolly Parton version of that song was much better.
July 31st, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Yes, but Dolly enjoys those royalty checks!
August 1st, 2009 at 11:21 am
Amen, Perplexed, Amen. Keep those cards and letters (and royalty checks) coming . . .