On her new “I Look to You” album, Whitney Houston asks fans to "love me like I never left."
The lyric, from Houston’s duet with Akon, can resonate as both a request and plea -- especially from a singer who released her last studio album in 2002. Because one of the truths for the already troubled recording industry is that being a superstar just ain’t what it used to be.
Released on Monday -- a day earlier than CD Tuesdays, to qualify it for a Grammy -- the album was well reviewed and topped both the Amazon and iTunes sales charts on day one.
Over the past two years, under the personal guidance of long-time Houston mentor and industry executive Clive Davis, it has been the beneficiary of huge investment and high hopes with an A-team of producers and songwriters such as Alicia Keys, another Davis protégé, Diane Warren, David Foster, R. Kelly and Akon assembled to help the singer hit all the right notes and demographics.
And while no plans have been announced for a tour, an extensive marketing campaign has been rolled out, including a Tuesday live appearance for Houston on “Good Morning America” Tuesday and an interview with Oprah on Sept. 14.
But it’s unlikely to recapture even a sliver of the glory days of Whitney’s 1985 debut, which sold over 13 million copies, or her soundtrack to “The Bodyguard,” which sold a blockbusting 44 million copies worldwide
One Grammy winning producer and music executive who has worked with some of the biggest acts in the music business told TheWrap that he thinks Houston’s new album will continue having a great first week -- and then suffer a quick drop-off in sales.
“Whitney hasn’t been Whitney for a long time,” the producer said, noting that Houston's last studio album “Just Whitney,” has sold less than 750,000 copies in the U.S. since its release almost seven years ago. “Her last album was the worst selling record of her career, and the last compilation (2007’s “The Ultimate Collection”) the label put out was a non-entity.”
“Things have changed,” says entertainment and music business lawyer Allen Lenard. “You can't depend on the high level artists to carry the industry any more. Whitney Houston and other artists didn't shrink -- the world did.”
With sales of recorded music declining in the double digits year after year in the last decade, the digital revolution and consumer tastes shifting from albums to individual songs, the industry has seen expectations and profits fall.
Especially with comeback albums, it seems the days when groups like the Eagles could reunite and top the charts. Much anticipated comeback records from the likes of Guns’N’Roses, whose “Chinese Democracy” was 13 years in the making, to Eminem have stalled or crashed right out of the gate.
Released on November 23 2008, “Chinese Democracy” has sold barely 3.2 million copies worldwide, a far cry from the 28 million copies sold of GNR’s 1987 “Appetite for Destruction” debut.
