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Whitney Houston gives away 'I Look To You' single

Whitney Houston's quot;I Look To Youquot; album cover.

Photo credit: Arista Records

Whitney Houston's comeback single “I Look to You” (Arista) debuted today and she's giving away downloads of it on her website until Friday if you give her your email address.

The song plays to her strengths, a spare, powerful ballad that makes the most of her big, booming voice and elegant phrasing, but it’s a bit of an odd choice to reintroduce her to the world, especially considering some of the hipper songs on the upcoming album.

Nevertheless, the song, written by R. Kelly, is now the title track for her album -- now set for an Aug. 31 release instead of Sept. 1, a move according to Idolator to make it eligible for next year's Grammys.

In any case, with Clive Davis personally engineering each step of Houston’s return, they’re going to go with proven game plans first and by trotting out a ballad as the lead single, they're apparently going to support the album for the long haul.

Tags: Whitney Houston , R. Kelly , Clive Davis