‘I. Am. WHITNEY. Houston. Whew! Winded.’

No one ever told Whitney Houston that talking was going to be part of her comeback, but the embattled singer bravely attempted to speak words at last night’s Grammys, with varying levels of success.

The result was a brilliant unravelling of sentences that left Houston virtually out of breath, as well as a delicious feedback loop that resulted when Houston’s pauses and a teleprompter immediately rushed to its slowest setting caused her to stagger her words with even greater infrequency. Though she’s the healthiest we’ve seen in her in ages, the over-deliberate phrasing reminded us of our own sometimes-inebriated insistences that, “No. We. Are. NOT. Drunk” (with a little bit of our high school drama teacher’s vocal cadences thrown in for garnish). The final verdict? It’s not quite right, but it’s definitely OK.

• The Grammys [CBS]