Whitney Houston Is Still Ready For Her Close-Up

Not much to say about the video for Whitney Houston’s “I Look To You”; it’s basically Whitney, wearing a billowing gown, mouthing along with the R. Kelly-penned, gospel-tinged lyrics in such a way that it seems like she’s saying a particularly determined prayer. But I just wanted to take a moment to say that I’ve really warmed to the album from which this track is taken since acquiring it early last week. Whitney’s enunciations are still a bit strange-sounding to these ears, particularly on the “growlier” parts of this particular song; I’m wondering if her Oprah interview next week might shine some light as to why. But the obvious R. influence here (seriously, does this track sound like it could be on U Saved Me 2 or what?) makes the track shine, and the record’s dancier songs—particularly the Danja-produced “For The Lovers”—are quite enjoyable. Its second-week sales plunge—Hits is estimating second-week sales totals for I Look To You at somewhere between 75,000 and 80,000, which is more than the biggest-selling Beatles reissue (Abbey Road, 70k-75k) but behind that Wal-Mart-only Miley Cyrus EP (110k-120k) and, naturally, Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 (300k+). The Oprah bounce will likely help its numbers, although whether it’ll be too far out to bring its weekly sales total back to the six-figure mark remains to be seen. Whitney – I Look To You [YouTube]