Happy 30th Anniversary to Toni Braxton’s eponymous debut album Toni Braxton, originally released July 13, 1993.
“What do you possibly think you know about love?” she posits, cross-examining her unfaithful lover. “You know, I'm sick and tired of men using love like it's some kind of disease you just catch. ‘Love’ shoulda brought your ass home last night!” For the legions of women who stood and clapped at this line from the 1992 film Boomerang, actress Halle Berry became a hero, and every hero needs theme music.
Enter Toni Michele Braxton who, along with younger sisters Trina, Towanda, Traci, and Tamar, signed to Arista Records in 1989. When their lone single couldn’t catch fire, Babyface and L.A. Reid signed the elder sister to their LaFace sublabel. She would provide scratch takes for two Boomerang tunes—“Love Shoulda Brought You Home” and a Babyface duet “Give U My Heart” originally intended for Anita Baker. Baker, however, was very pregnant and declined, suggesting they instead use the girl singing the demo.
Thus, the diminutive alto powerhouse with the perfect pixie cut became a cultural force almost instantly with her self-titled debut. Surrounded with slick radio-ready songcraft and sophisticated, urbane R&B production, Toni Braxton is a textbook example of how to launch a gifted voice into superstardom.
“As hungry as I was, I didn’t mind taking Anita Baker’s—or anybody’s—leftovers,” she quipped to the Los Angeles Times. Where Baker’s Rapture (1986) formed the template for timeless adult R&B, Braxton adapted it creating a Rapture for the ‘90s generation.
Moreover, this was pulled off without succumbing to such pitfalls as pop, hip-hop, and dance crossover attempts. Fortunately, her team had the foresight to sidestep such temptations. With over half of its tracks shepherded by Babyface, Reid, and Daryl Simmons, Braxton’s deck was stacked to win. It was only a matter of which cards to play and when.
Since she succeeded with her brokenhearted Boomerang ballad, LaFace was keen to issue yet “Another Sad Love Song.” This slinky charmer endeared itself to radio in June of 1993. Ranging from vulnerable and hushed to powerful, she shines on its bridge (“Here come the strings / Then somebody sings / Only takes a beat / And then it starts killing me”).
Dazzling bridges are a feature throughout Toni Braxton, heightening the natural drama in her pouty, emotive style. They always give way to a cascade of perfectly placed tension-relieving adlibs, like her particularly singable “Ooh, I hearditontheradiolastnight SO SAD!” Though a solid opening, “Another Sad Love Song” still isn’t her richest offering.
The biggest hit came in August 1993 with “Breathe Again.” The pop-soul chorus is near Shakespearean in its theatrics (“If love ends… I promise you that I shall never breathe again”). This is the type of tragic-romantic sincerity that would be belted into hairbrushes the world over—even without any real life experience to match it. And no slight to the Kardashian clan, but Braxton’s trademark crumble of each “and I can’t stop thinking about” makes her the heavyweight champion of vocal fry. Like its predecessor, “Breathe Again” too was certified gold, registering Top 10 on R&B, pop, and adult contemporary charts.
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The project’s pinnacle is arguably “Seven Whole Days,” a jazz-frosted slice of sultry soul. Despite being the wearied dismissal of an inattentive beau, Braxton’s penchant for making a song covertly sexy is used to great effect. Her sisters contribute as well, portraying backup singers in its indigo-themed video. With no commercial single released, the single could only chart #1 on Billlboard’s R&B airplay charts, but as a result, it drove buyers purchasing the full CD to get the track.
This helped push Toni Braxton to a triumphant #1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in early October 1993. Six months later, it was leapfrogging past formidable 1993 competitors like Mariah Carey’s Music Box and Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle to itself finally sit at #1 on the Billboard 200.
The lady’s delivery is so smooth though, one doesn’t notice all these compositions are bathed in more pain, rejection, and infidelity than love and romance. “I don’t have any happy love songs,” she explained on The Jennifer Hudson Show. Apparently, Lil’ Kim requested “You Mean the World to Me” at her wedding. Braxton recited its lines, “’If you could give me one good reason why I should believe you,’ believe all these lies that you tellin’? Kimmy, that’s not a good song.” She laughed at Kim’s retort: “Girl, can't nobody understand what you say?! Just sing the song!”
Along with The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” and Atlantic Starr’s “Secret Lovers,” most of this record should not play at a wedding. Not being able to walk down the aisle to “You Mean the World to Me” didn’t stop it becoming another gold-certified, pop, R&B, and AC Top 10 after its March 1994 release. Another pair of summer singles would quickly follow in June, and this time, the DJ could at least spin them at the reception.
First, Jade hitmaker Vassal Benford produced “I Belong To You,” an uptempo with familiar arrangements from The Emotions’ “Best of My Love.” The real winner though is the ecstatic, booming “How Many Ways,” produced by her future manager and brother-in-law Vincent Herbert. Its big Jeepy beats alternate between driving the groove and revealing its underlying Headhunters breakbeat like exposed wood in modern architecture. Even as the lowest charting entries, both still reached #6 R&B and #28 Pop.
In the remaining tracks, no moments are wasted. “Candlelight” is citrussy, fresh, and Baker-esque. It’s hard not to giggle though at the puritan solemnity of young Toni vowing “I ain’t down with O.P.P.” on sax-laden “Love Affair.” Where some lyrics sour with age, this one’s sweet like overripe banana. You want to hold her face in your hands and prophesy, “Soon, you’ll be telling your ex’s new girl you’ve already had her man.”
Braxton turns in an exciting vocal performance on “Spending My Time With You,” frequently amen-ing herself with visceral yelps and exclamations. The fun she had that day translates on record. Despite its sonic similarity to “Give U My Heart,” it’s a peak and personal favorite. To close, Braxton turns co-writer and co-producer on “Best Friend,” her unfortunately true story of infidelity and double betrayal. She embodies the sincerity of a gospel altar call, a key to her vocal distinction.
As a church-trained pianist and pastor’s daughter, Braxton has absorbed the ecstasy and primal urgency of Black Christian worship traditions, and can naturally exude that in her phrasing and punctuation. She does it so easily that one might think it’s easily done. But make no mistake—the vast landscape of her peers cannot match her intensity and exactitude, let alone do so with no seeming effort.
This gift conjures images of untouchable, sequined divas like Baker, Phyllis Hyman, and Angela Bofill. Braxton adds to their lineage a capacity for pop stardom that elevated her into an elite class with Whitney Houston and few others. Her eponymous disc went sextuple platinum in the US alone, and ultimately sold 10 million units worldwide.
With this one release, Braxton owned the GRAMMY category Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for multiple years winning in 1994 (“Another Sad Love Song”), 1995 (“Breathe Again”), and almost a third year in 1996. She was nominated for underdog single “I Belong to You,” but finally deferred to—of course, who else but Anita Baker. The curse of being crowned Best New Artist missed her as well. She duplicated and surpassed her success on Secrets (1996) with its career-defining crossovers “You’re Makin’ Me High” and “Un-Break My Heart.”
It was her spotless debut though that permanently established her core audience. She would release bigger sellers and higher charters, but Toni Braxton set the standard. And that’s great for her, but good luck to any act who has to follow her.
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