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Tag: Alicia Keys

  • Review – Whitney Houston Looks To You To Reinvigorate Her Music Career

    It took her seven years, but Whitney Houston is back, and if you believe the themes of her new album, I Look To You, she’s put her problems in her rear view mirror.

    The first thing that should be talked about is her legendary voice. It’s not the same Whitney voice that you remember, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s consistent and while it doesn’t seem that she can hit those crazy notes of yesteryear, it’s still good and in this case, less can be more.

    Whitty Hutton Wuld Tour
    Back in the mid 90s on Martin Lawrence’s hit TV show, there was a story line in which he was jobless and decided to sell bootleg Whitney Houston t-shirts outside of her concert. His partner Brother Man couldn’t spell very well, so instead of saying, “Whitney Houston World Tour”, the shirt said, “Whitty Hutton Wuld Tour”. When Whitney Houston became the “crack is wack” Whitney, I just started calling her Whitty Hutton. It fit. The once singer of golden songs became a joke.

    Whitney Houston's I Look To You
    Whitney Houston’s I Look To You
    But if you believe the songs on her new album, that past is behind her. With songs like Nothin’ But Love, she forgives the haters, and even the people who tried to break her. The theme behind the song is that she’s so beyond her problems and thus, she has nothin’ but love for everyone. It’s not a very strong song and is plodding, but it provides a key point, and it’s that Whitney is trying to move forward. If only she tapped Heavy D for a fun sixteen bars.

    On Salute, which is written and produced by R. Kelly, she even borrows from Todd Smith’s classic line. Over a piano bed, she calls herself a soldier girl for standing strong.

    Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years.

    Who is she saluting? She’s trying to be the bigger person in saluting who you have to believe is Bobby Brown, as a way to get over her past issues and struggles in life.

    Is She Still Our Baby Tonight?
    Back in the mid to late 80s, Whitney Houston was so charming. I remember seeing her on the Arsenio Hall show and she had swagger before I knew what swagger was. She could’ve been Miss America, a great actress, and the world’s biggest pop star all in one, and I wouldn’t have been surprised. She played nicely, and while you could tell she had a little bit of a chip on her shoulder, but she gave you that wink and nod and simply owned the stage. Bill Cosby even wanted her to play his oldest daughter Sondra on The Cosby Show. But during the 90s, she wasn’t that Whitney anymore.

    Fast forward some 20 years and she’ll never be able to be America’s Sweetheart again. But can she get back some of what she lost?

    Lead single Million Dollar Bill has the team of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz behind it, yet it’s slightly underwhelming. It does put Whitney immediately in a positive light as there are only so many songs she can do with the comeback theme before people start rolling their eyes. It’s not as strong as the Akon flavored Like I Never Left, which except for the fact that it starts off annoyingly with Akon making sure we understand that it’s a Konvict record, is sweet and light. Call You Tonight is signature Starlight, the Spotlight (Jennifer Hudson), of the album.

    Whitney performs Million Dollar Bill on Good Morning American


    What’s The Big “Whitney” Song That We’ll All Remember This Album By?
    Sadly, there isn’t one. My favorite song on the album is the aforementioned Akon duet. But I think she and Clive Davis meant for it to be the title track. I Look To You is the second single on the album and is written by R. Kelly. It’s a slowly laced piano ballad in which she continues with the comeback theme. However, the stronger ballad in my opinion is the Diane Warren/David Foster helmed I Didn’t Know My Own Strength. It showcases Whitney’s voice in a very vulnerable place. The song builds up dramatically and is fulfilling by the end.

    Save for the terrible Euro-dance version of A Song For You, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with Whitney’s comeback album. But there’s nothing on here that’s going to shock the world either. It should appease her current fanbase, which I guess is the goal. It’s a nice album, but one in which most music fans will be able to do without.

  • First Listen: Whitney Houston’s “Million Dollar Bill”

    So I’m thinking this Whitney comeback might actually get pulled off. “Million Dollar Bill” is the second radio single from her upcoming album “I Look to You”, and it’s a pretty damn good record. Produced by Alicia Keys (and Swizz Beatz…I think), it’s got a retro-disco vibe that Whitney’s never tried before. It works for her. I’m glad they’re not going the Auto-Tune/trendy club beat route with her (you hear that, Mary J. Blige?)

    What impresses the most is that the voice is still there. Whitney can still sing, but then again, I’m of the belief that her voice actually got better once Bobby (and all the other attendant issues) came into the picture.

    So, this is a pretty cool track. I’m excited for the album. What do you think?

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  • Ask an R&B Geek Vol. 1: Prince & More…

    Prince

    If you have questions for Robert, our resident R&B geek, please leave them in the comment section here and they will be answered!!

    1) What’s the best Prince album and why?

    At his best, Prince is big, messy, Whitmanesque in his ambitions and attempts to encompass the entire vocabulary of black music into 3-4 minute increments. His best albums aren’t mystifyingly perfect like Stevie Wonder’s string of classics; nor do they have the sweet, organic, arresting playability of Marvin Gaye’s finest work. What they are however is loud, gloriously loud in multitudes of musical ideas. They take staggering risks with convention and structure; and have highlights so blinding in their beauty, so mystifying in their invention; and so arresting in their listenability that they envelop whatever flaws the albums might have.

    So if you guessed my answer to be 1987’s Sign of The Times, give yourself a gold star. Sure, you could bitch about Starfish and Coffee, deem The Ballad of Dorothy Parker too pretentious, and scratch your head at Strange Relationship. You could even complain about the lack of continuity between the studio and concert cuts. If you do that, however, at the expense of Play In The Sunshine, Housequake, I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man, Adore, If I Was Your Girlfriend and the title track, then you need buy an ELO record.

    1a/2) Why is he such an ornery so-and-so these days?

    Oy vey iz mir! He’s in his 50’s with two busted hips! Seriously, in the scope of great geniuses in the 20th century, he’s doing ok. Find somebody who revolutionized their idiom the way Prince did, and you will see someone with demons. Prince has had his share: his involvement with drugs, while minor, was the catalyst that led him to become a Jehovas witness, and his vicious treatment of Sinead O’ Connor underscores the problems with women he’s had in his life. Compared to someone like Sly Stone, however, he’s a saint.

    That said, he has been a crotchety son of a gun lately. Gaging his New Yorker interview and love/hate relationship with Wendy and Lisa, I would say that Prince has not yet come to terms with the sexuality that made his early records burn so brilliantly; and that’s why he’s been a pissed off bastard.


    3) Why don’t R&B musicians (Alicia Keys and John Legend excepted) play their own instruments anymore??

    It’s easy to give the Wynton Marsalis answer, and complain about kids today not being that inventive. It’s harder to talk about the Massive drain in musical education in the past 40 years; the mass exodus of Black Male authority figures in mentoring and the arts; the pervasive sexism shown in the discounting of Female composers; the destruction of black radio by Bill Clinton’s deregulation bill; and the long, long, long list of R&B artist-musicians in the past 15 years that have been neglected by record companies obsessed with the easy suburban teenage dollar.