Whitney On The Record

WHITNEY HOUSTON IS A LITTLE wound up. Sitting in an elegant suite at the St. Regis Hotel in New York, she's got the wear and tear of recording an album, as well as keeping up with her 5-year-old daughter and the rest of her family, written across her face. Houston has been busy promoting her fourth album,""My Love Is Your Love,'' her first non-soundtrack CD in eight years. The singer rounded up the brightest stars of R&B and hip-hop to write, sing and produce, and the result is all the ""flava'' a fan could want. Houston's voice is a treasure and is only highlighted by mellow tracks like ""Heartbreak Hotel,'' which couples her with Faith Evans and Kelly Price. Rapper-producer Missy Elliot offers up two saucy tunes, ""In My Business'' and ""Oh Yes.'' And Lauryn Hill and Wyclef give the album a funky, multicultural vibe. But Houston's at her best when in the loving care of her longtime collaborators Babyface and songwriter Diane Warren. She sat down with NEWSWEEK'S Allison Samuels to talk.

NEWSWEEK: Some people describe ""My Love Is Your Love'' as a hip-hop album because you have Wyclef, Faith and Lauryn Hill.

Houston: Well, I've gone from singing too white to R&B diva, and now I'm hip-hop. I guess it's flattering to know that I can sing it all. My mother always said if you can sing you can sing. Having a church background has allowed me to be able to sing every note, every lyric. I'm not a hip-hop buyer. But I love Mary J. Blige--I love the best of hip-hop. To me, Wyclef is not hip-hop--Faith is not hip-hop. Music is a wide range. My husband can rap, sing and dance. He can do it all, and that's what I think of all these artists--they can do it all.

Is this album more about your life than the last three soundtracks [""The Bodyguard,'' ""Waiting to Exhale'' and ""The Preacher's Wife'']?

All those songs were me. I've turned down thousands of songs because they aren't me. All the characters in the films I've done were, in a sense, really me. ""Preacher's Wife'' was definitely me. I have to feel songs, or I won't sing them. ""Why Does It Hurt So Bad'' [""Waiting to Exhale''] was a song that Babyface wrote years ago, and I didn't sing it because I hadn't hurt that bad. But ""Face'' just held on to it, and then of course one day I hurt so bad and it was time to sing that song.

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