Whitney Houston's comeback

For a long time now, we've been hearing rumors about Whitney Houston's new album in the works. We've waited and waited and wondered if she still had it in her. The wait is over.

I Look to You, which is her sixth studio album, and the first in seven years, arrives today.

She worked closely with her mentor, Clive Davis, and some of the best collaborators out there, including Alycia Keys, Akon, and Diane Warren. So what's it all about? Are her days as a tabloid fixture over? Will this mark her return to the top of the charts again? Well, it's hard to tell. While not exactly overly enthusiastic, the reviews aren't really bad either. Here's what people have to say:

• Rolling Stone gives it three and a half stars and says: "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."

• Entertainment Weekly rates it as a B- and says: "Houston's famous voice, which now sounds husky and glottal, as if her vocal cords were sent through a washer-dryer cycle with a handful of small rocks, brings a gravity that the album's often generically worded ballads lack."

• The New York Times says: "She still sings about the power of love, though it’s not always benign anymore. The album is split between songs that hint at her travails and songs that try to ignore them."

• The LA Times gives it three stars and says: "Though I Look to You doesn't soar like the old days, it's fine to hear Houston working on her own recovery plan."

Whitney, we're glad to have you back!