Seks år efter seneste udgivelse er Whitney Houston tilbage og klar til et højtpromoveret comeback. I Look To You er titlen på albummet, der kan føre Whitney tilbage til radio og hitlister. Listen over sangskrivere og producere på albummet tæller blandt andre Alicia Keys, Diane Warren, Akon, R. Kelly, Danja, Tricky Stewart og det norske producerteam Stargate. Her er den endelige tracklist:

1. Million Dollar Bill
2. Nothin' But Love
3. Call You Tonight
4. I Look To You
5. Like I Never Left (feat. Akon)
6. A Song For You
7. I Didn't Know My Own Strength
8. Worth It
9. For The Lovers
10. I Got You
11. Salute

I Look To You udkommer officielt mandag den 31. august. Titelnummeret I Look To You er ude som radiosingle, mens næste single tilsyneladende bliver Million Dollar Bill.

Man kan lytte til hele albummet på whitneyhouston.com.

Det er igen pladeselskabsveteranen Clive Davis der har stået bag arbejdet med albummet. Han gav i 80'erne Whitney hendes første pladekontrakt og er i dag chef for Sony Music. "I had plans to live on this little island and open a fruit stand and call it a day," siger Whitney ifølge Rolling Stone. "But I got this call from Clive, and he said, 'No, that's not what you're gonna do.'"

Ifølge et interview med Clive Davis i det britiske musikblad Music Week begyndte arbejdet på albummet for tre år siden: "You have to wait for what you consider great songs to emerge. The major difference was that for the years that we were doing it regularly and I was dealing with writers, you would have a continuous backlog of material that didn't make a particular album. Based on my relationship with writers, I would start an album knowing that I had four or five songs already lined up. With this album we really started from scratch."

Om ambitionen for pladen siger Davis: "With I Look To You, we didn't want Whitney to have a series of hit records that anyone else who's strong can do. We wanted to have that special song, but also get it played on radio. That was the challenge and the criteria, to find that balance. [...] This album has more elements than any other Whitney album and that has made it very exciting to work on - almost every cut is a candidate for a single. [...] This is not just an artist who has not made a record for several years, there really is intense interest and, considering the worldwide media attention, it is probably the most challenging Whitney Houston album I have worked on. [...] It's about believing in her and that she can once again have the kind of career that she has enjoyed. The odds are not easy, there is no such thing as a slam dunk, but my work ethic is such that you have to make sure you get the best and make it special. You have to use your sagacity and your experience to help launch an artist and create opportunities."

Davis er kritisk over for tidens hitlistemusik og mener, at Whitney kan bidrage med noget særligt også i dag: "It's not the era so much of great songs and copyrights that will be around in 10 or 20 years. There are no classics. It's very tough for ballads today, especially in the hip-hop-dominated US charts. Radio has changed, the industry has changed. [...] We didn't just have hit records, we had pop classics. But today how do you create that if radio will not play it?"

Der er gode anmeldelser i flere vigtige magasiner. Rolling Stone skriver: "It takes a while - nearly 25 minutes - for the big proverbial Big Whitney Houston Moment to arrive. [...] It's a doozy, though. 'I Didn't Know My Own Strength' is a schmaltz-swaddled ballad about spiritual heartiness and succeeding against the odds, full of gusty string-orchestra crescendos and gospel piano chords. Here is the Houston you know: the gale-force balladeer whose megahits like 'Greatest Love of All' combined vocal pyrotechnics, self-help bromides and a distinctly black-female perspective to create a new kind of secular gospel music. Close your eyes, open your ears, and you're back in 1992. [...] But interestingly, this klieglit moment is the exception on the new album. I Look to You spends little time looking back. It is a modern soul record, a collection of sleek, often spunky love songs that aim at something more immediate and tangible than nostalgia or catharsis: Houston wants back in the diva stakes. The mood is set by the lead track, 'Million Dollar Bill'. Co-written by Alicia Keys, it's a breezy ode to newfound love, with rubbery, high-riding bass, discofied strings and a lyric as buoyant as the beat. [...] At 46, Houston is not the singer she once was. Time and hard living have shaved some notes off that amazing range; the clear, bright voice that dominated radio has given way to a huskier tone - less powerful but more sultry. Where her voice once commanded center stage, she wisely cedes some of the spotlight to her songwriter-producers. [...] Wisely, these collaborators don't try to hip-hop-ify Houston. The beats are more insistent than in the past, but they're not trying to be single ladies; the songs have a swank adult-contemporary overlay that is distinctively Whitney."

Billboard om singlen I Look to You: "On the lead single from her first album in seven years, Whitney Houston is both vulnerable and in control. The singer re-enters the spotlight with a stoic ballad about rising again after a fall from grace, with all the literal resonance that brings. [...] The lyrics are penned by R. Kelly, himself no stranger to career downturns and revivals. And the minimalist production, which features a lone, sullen piano and soft synths, exists purely to cushion Houston's moving vocal performance. 'I Look to You' stands firmly in the tradition of her most emotive hits ('Greatest Love of All', 'I Will Always Love You') and signals the long-awaited return of a true diva."