Despite how good their craft may be, an artist can only hope (and pray) their music career endures the trials and tribulations of the record industry. Pitfalls like disputes with management, poor control of finances, and drug and alcohol paraphernalia can too often be the demise of a promising profession. However, once a musician has “made it” (i.e.: made appealing and profitable music that remains memorable over a period of time- hopefully longer than a year) their career can go one of three routes: they can either keep making appealing and profitable music and stay relevant to society, completely fall off the face of the earth and are never heard of again, or completely fall off the face of the earth, return to the industry and stage a comeback- by (trying to) successfully make music like they originally did.

It’s rare one manages to do the former: maintain a combo of relevance, appeal and profit when it comes to music. Only a handful have attained that status and nowadays, it’s few and far in between. Therefore, the majority of artists are left to do one of two things: enjoy their 15 minutes of fame and then go away forever, or they can make a few hot records, disappear for a while and eventually (try) to make a comeback. Don’t get me wrong- not everyone wants to make a major career comeback- and for the record, everyone can’t (and shouldn’t). Regardless of whatever originally made an artist fall off the map, for some, the desire to attain the success they initially had never goes away. Case and point: Whitney Houston.

The original R & B queen is definitely trying to regain her footing after undergoing…many personal struggles (for lack of a better term). With her new CD, I Look to You, due out September 1st, the word “comeback: doesn’t even do justice to what Ms. Houston is trying to do. Million Dollar Bill, her first single off the album, was written by Alicia Keys and produced by Swizz Beatz (what more can you say after a statement like that?) But with all seriousness, it sounds really good and definitely makes one wonder what other surprises are on the album.

There are a few R & B figures out there that NEED to make a comeback- their voices weren’t terribly annoying and they actually had some decent material. And honestly, it could (possibly) be refreshing to hear something other than that garbage that’s in rotation everywhere now. Like whatever happened to Total? And SWV was always on point. Changing Faces wasn’t half bad, either. And who remembers Allure? And can anyone tell me where in the world is Kelly Price? (I can definitely keep going).

However, there are always those that…let’s just say we don’t necessarily NEED them back in music (the industry is special enough without them). They served their purpose at the time and that’s that. No need to list names- I’m sure you can come up with quite a few on your own (I know I can!)

Whatever the case, music is always changing (and drugs are always around, records don’t sell and sometimes, jail sentences happen….) Artists come and go, but the ones that are truly special manage to stick around for a while (or eventually get their shit together and come back). The truly un-special ones stick around too, but for what it’s worth, it’s only temporary.

-Rachel McCain