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Monday, August 31, 2009 Viva La Diva! Whitney Houston's new album is a bona fide knockout! Superb! I can't stop playing it. The songs are well chosen, the production is stellar, and Whitney is front and center, where she belongs. Can she still sing? ABSOLUTELY. Is her voice the same as it was when she was 25? No, but who's is? Her voice today has more depth and character. There are no "Star Search" theatrics here, but something far more powerful... the richness of experience and the power of self knowledge. Whitney knows what she's singing about. She doesn't have to sell the song, she is the song. On "I Didn't Know My Own Strength", she let's you have it, but not in a predictable way. Her deliberately restrained performance is what gives this profound song an even more powerful subtext. It says my strength comes from a quiet stillness that only time has revealed. This is not bubble gum pop, this is real soul food. The first time I heard the song, I had tears in my eyes after a minute and thirteen seconds. The same is true on "I Look To You". Her approach to the material is hauntingly personal, vulnerable, yet commanding and masterful. She has earned the right to sing these songs. The upbeat tracks on the album had me hitting repeat so often that I've rarely made it to the end of the album. "For The Lovers", "Nothin' But Love" and "Salute" are completely irresistible and terribly infectious. Surprisingly, just when I thought I couldn't possibly stomach another rendition of Leon Russell's classic "A Song For You", Whitney does a dance version of it that is pure genius and pure Whitney. The word Diva has been mindlessly thrown around so freely in the past decade that it's become trite. On her new album, Whitney Houston reiterates the true meaning of the word Diva. Viva La Diva! The Official Whitney Houston Site | Permalink 2009 RuCo, Inc.—All Rights Reserved |
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