Soul Strut 100 - #87.5 Toni Braxton S/T (1993)
batmon
27,574 Posts
Please discuss your reactions to this record.
FROM WIKI:
Braxton's debut album won her several awards, including three Grammy Awards (for Best New Artist and two consecutive awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1994 and 1995).[12] She also won two American Music Awards (for Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist and Favorite New Adult Contemporary Artist)[12] in 1994 and another one in 1995 (for Favorite Soul/R&B Album).[12] Toni Braxton was certified 8x platinum in USA and has sales of over 10 million worldwide.[13][14]
Comments
One of the last great grown n sexy hoorahs of Babyface and the like or the kind of massive selling soulless record that helped bring about the death of popular RnB in the charts?
Secrets has some joints on it.
Your Makin Me High
Theres No Me Without You
Unbreak My Heart
How Could An Angel Break My Heart
I Dont Want To
1996 R&B was still healthy and Neo Soul was just getting going, so i wouldnt say Secrets was the beginning of the "death".
Yeah it's not an area I'm remotely schooled in but I was struggling to think of many highly successful albums released after this that stuck to the slow jams formula apart from Kells. At least to my ears it was already being replaced by Timbaland and then the full move into either Neo Soul or RnB/rap collaborations. Like I said though this is based only on what I was hearing at the time so I may be entirely off the mark here.
Oh, and I ride for Secrets. Bought it as an Xmas present for a girl I was having an on/off relationship with behind her boyfriend's back. She chose him in the end and all my Toni wooing was in vain but by that stage I was well acquainted with the whole of Secrets. I don't think I can ever accept Unbreak My Heart but You're Making Me High is great and I always had a soft spot for Talking In His Sleep.
I ride for I Dont Want To which was written by R.Kelly right after his mom passed and was one of many bluesy joints he wrote for other artists that revealed his current mourning.
whatever, I ride for this! "How Many Ways" is my favorite from Toni Braxton.
LP Version flowin over "God Made Me Funky" at 0:13 (buried in the mix after that)
Unfortunately that sweet moment is edited from the video (starring Shemar Moore)
This was the final single from the album (double A-side with "I Belong To You") - R. Kelly Remix - the version I always heard on the radio:
The single has one more remix by Chucky Thompson featuring short raps from Puffy and Biggie, and samples Chocolate Milk's "Action Speaks Louder Than Words"
It's like she's singing from Grandmaster Flash's kitchen.