Sound Check: Whitney Houston finds her grit

Date: November 20, 1998
By Ben Wener

From Orange County Register (California)
Submitted by: Rachel D.


R&B

Whitney Houston
"My Love is Your Love," Arista
* * * 1/2

So R&B's Grand Diva enlists the help of the hottest talent in hip-hop and R&B in an effort to shake loose her mildewed reputation as a bland balladeer of syrupy claptrap and get hip. And - shocker! - it works, even better than it did for Aretha.

Whitney Houston's "My Love is Your Love," her first new studio collection in eight years isn't remarkable music, but it is a remarkable move for the typically reserved and calculated singer. Fans of "The Greatest Love of All," however, should beware: This is not your Whitney. You get only a few Big Ballads here _ the tepid Mariah Carey duet "When You Believe" and the near-closing routine of "You'll Never Stand Alone."

The rest is a sassier, funkier Whitney that is likely to take many people by surprise. For an idea, take "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" (the song, not the album) and cross with a generous but still respectable dose of Janet Jackson's brazen sexuality. But Whitney doesn't really turn up the heat. (Only the deeply sultry "Oh Yes," produced by and featuring Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, catches fire.) It's all an illusion, and an impressive one at that. She's not really nasty, just a little wicked and plenty ticked off.

In almost every song, it's impossible to avoid the impression that Whitney is using the album to lash out and (perhaps) reconcile with her bad-boy hubby, Bobby Brown. The rumors of his infidelity compounded with his very real run-ins with the law seem to have tried her patience. "Baby, I learned the way to break a heart / I learned from the best / I learned from you," she sings on the sinister "I Learned From the Best," easily the smartest thing pulp songwriter Diane Warren has ever penned.

And the verbal jabs keep coming, especially in the Missy-fied "In My Business," the Faith Evans-propelled "Heartbreak Hotel" (not Elvis') and the Babyface creation "I Bow Out." But it's the throbbing sound and Whitney's always amazing voice that are most striking.

Relying less on histrionics than ever before and employing a lip-curling delivery and biting phrasing that is far more effective than her typical sappiness, Whitney here reminds us that she is the link between soul sisters Aretha and Gladys Knight and modern wonders such as Mary J. Blige and Lauryn Hill. Maybe she had to borrow a bit from Mariah to prove that, but at least she sounds like a real woman again.

As for her true feelings about Bobby, well, who knows what to believe, though it's clear by the end that she won't be a doormat. Stick around after the transparent "You'll Never Stand Alone." That's when Hill shows up to help Whitney get sexy on a delicious recasting of Stevie Wonder's "I Was Made to Love Her" (change the sex). It's bumpin' and believably faithful and, man, does it groove.

It's wild enough to make you think that maybe all is forgiven between Whitney and Bobby. But it's also dark enough to make you think, well, maybe not. Either way, even if she does love him forever, she's still nobody's fool.

You might enjoy if you like: Mariah Carey's "Butterfly," Whitney's "I'm Your Baby Tonight," Faith Evans, Lauryn Hill