'Sparkle' soundtrack review: Whitney Houston's last
Singer-actresses Jordin Sparks, left, and Whitney Houston are shown in a scene from the upcoming film "Sparkle." Credit: AP
Time for real talk: The "Sparkle" soundtrack (RCA) was never going to be Whitney Houston's comeback.
Houston appears on only two songs -- the lackluster single "Celebrate" with Jordin Sparks, where she takes a backseat to the younger singer, and the stunning version of the gospel classic "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," where she showed how the power (if not the range) had returned to her voice. Despite her one-time superstar status, Houston wasn't supposed to carry "Sparkle," Sparks was. And this album, completed before Houston's death in February, sounds like it was created for a modest, midlevel project, not the return of a superstar.
Sparks does shine on the gospel number "One Wing," showing how she was able to win "American Idol" so easily and why she certainly had the voice to build this remake around.
"Sparkle" may end up being a nice movie, but the quality of this soundtrack shows that the unplanned attention that the project received from Houston's untimely death probably won't help it in the long run.
VARIOUS "Sparkle: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
Most Popular
Top Stories
