With today marking the birthday of the late, great Whitney Houston, fans still mourning the singer have been gifted a treat of their own.
For moments ago it was announced that a new album from the icon (who passed away in February) is being cooked up for release nearer the end of the year.
Details after the jump…
According to Billboard, the as yet untitled set will be “hits compilation” – the first collection to span her entire career and the first include the traditional versions of her biggest Billboard smashes.
Many will be scratching their heads due to the fact that ‘Whitney: The Greatest Hits’ was released in 2000 – and did indeed include the hits which cruised her to legendary status.
However, the US version of the 36-track set (which has sold 2.6 million copies domestically – 900k of that being this year alone) traded familiar versions of tracks such as ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and ‘So Emotional’ for Dance mixes.
It is believed that the new set will rectify the “wrongs” of its predecessor, beefing up the track-list with material from the star’s final album, 2009’s Platinum seller ‘I Look To You’.
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Sigh. Yet another posthumous compilation.
Even from a business standpoint; surely material that didn’t make ‘I Look To You’ or her more recent albums such as ‘Just Whitney’ and ‘My Love Is Your Love’ should not just be “a” priority, but “the” priority?
Her existing Greatest Hits effort (which earns the honour of being this year’s 4th best selling album) is performing exceptionally as it is, hence why rush out another when – from our standpoint – there isn’t demand? In the meanwhile, unheard “recent” material stays growing older and less current with each day it’s left in the vault.
In any case, we hope those piecing together the new project conjure up something compelling for a fanbase that have been fiercely loyal to their idol – and deserve to be “rewarded” for it.