Her first studio album in over eight years finds Whitney Houston, perhaps the world's least funky, most whitebread singer, trying hard to contemporize herself. She wisely enlists singers like Faith Evans, Missy Elliott, and an uncredited Lauryn Hill, all of whom lend Houston some much-needed sass. They, along with Wyclef Jean (who produced the title track) try hard to drag Houston's doggedly Muzak pop into the late 1990s, with considerable success. "It's Not Right But It's Okay" is an infectious take on "I Will Survive"; the Houston/Elliott collaboration "In My Business" is similarly engaging.

But die-hard fans who fear that the Whitney Houston who sledgehammered "I Will Always Love You" into submission has been replaced by someone more appropriately restrained need not worry. Houston also mobilizes balladeer Babyface and MOR songwriter Diane Warren (the author of sappy hits too numerous to mention), with predictably bloodless and overly dramatic results.