80’s Music Artist Whitney Houston is back. She is probably one of the biggest and most established female vocalists has over 170 million combined albums, singles and videos worth of sales under her belt. Having established a benchmark for stardom that could probably not be eclipsed by another female vocalist during the modern era, she has had a huge influence over a vast number of vocalists, both male and female. She is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as music’s ‘Most Awarded Female Artist of All Time’ with a tally of over 400 awards to her name. She is the holder of the biggest-selling US single of all time, for her rendition of Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ as well as one of the top 10 bestselling albums of all time for the Bodyguard soundtrack.
Houston’s new album, ‘I Look to You’, a first in 7 years has been rated ‘disappointing’ by most reviewers. An Entertainment Weekly review commenting on her once famous voice stated, “…now sounds husky and glottal, as if her vocal cords were sent through a washer-dryer cycle with a handful of small rocks”. The review however did say the new vocal quality in the album brought a sense of gravity to the songs in the album, which lack depth and are “generically worded”. Rapper Ne-Yo reviewing the album branded ‘boring’ for Entertainment Wise said, “They [the songs] all had the one same theme, which was ‘My name is Whitney Houston and this is my triumphant comeback’” Another reviewer said that while Houston sounded huskier, her new tone was ‘sultry’, while another said “Whitney’s CD has no modern sound”; with overall reviews rating the album ‘boring’ and ‘disappointing’.