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)