There's seemingly nowhere to go but down for diva-in-the-waiting Paula Cole, but the brunette chanteuse will attempt to upstage herself anyway. After receiving an amazing seven Grammy nominations for her 1996 breakthrough This Fire, Cole returns with the self-produced Amen, due out Sept. 28.

According to manager John Carter, the "little more urban" album features only nine songs, but clocks in at fifty-five minutes long. The first single, "I Believe in Love" (featuring a Barry White-esque string section), will go to radio in mid-September, and be accompanied by a music video that will be shot in a couple of weeks with a yet-undermined director.

Guests on the album include TLC's Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and producer-scratcher DJ Premier, who appears on "Rhythm of Life," which Cole raps on. "Missy's Feelin' Love," a newly recorded version of This Fire's "Feelin' Love" featuring Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, will appear on Japanese and Australian versions of Amen, according to Carter.

Amen was recorded over a three-month period earlier this year in a New York studio.

BLAIR R. FISCHER
(July 7, 1999)