UNBREAK HER HEART
Toni Braxton comeback revisits her favourite theme BRUNCH
If you follow Toni Braxton’s discography closely (or simply give it a quick scan), you’re probably familiar with one overriding narrative — a woman played and betrayed by her lover. Starting as far back as the release of her 1993 breakout self-titled debut, this theme of the jilted lover has resulted in some of her biggest hits including Another Sad Love Song, Breathe Again, Un-Break My Heart and Just Be A Man About It. It’s also spawned a riveting sub-plot which dominates 2014’s Grammy-winning Love, Marriage & Divorce, her tellingly titled duet album with singer-songwriter and long-time collaborator Babyface.
After all these years, Braxton apparently still has more post-breakup gripes to divulge and she’s done precisely that on her latest offering Sex & Cigarettes, her debut with Def Jam Records and eighth overall. “Just want to let you know/I won’t let this one go/You got me down, but I ain’t out,” she sings in the chorus of acoustic/orchestral opener Deadwood before letting rip her husky-voiced modulation. “Think you got me good/Left me like some deadwood/I may be down, but I’ll turn around.”
The hurt continues on the title track, which follows a more conventional route through a power ballad arrangement. “At least try to lie to me, lie to me/Oh yeah, instead, you come straight to our bed/Smelling like sex and cigarettes,” she half-pleads, half-bemoans the audacity of her cheating lover. These raw, ambivalent emotions are further explored on Long As I Live, a yearning R&B ode to a past love, and FOH, a quietly angsty ultimatum (“‘Cause I’m in love with you now/Are you in or you out? … If you don’t want me around, then don’t come around/And cloud up my atmosphere/F*ck outta here”).
Sorry is set to the swagger of southern soul and marks one of the few up-tempo offerings on the album (another notable example being the radio-ready Missin’ which incorporates elements of lite-EDM and tropical house, and wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the Top 40 a few years ago). Co-written by Colbie Caillat and Babyface, My Heart offers yet another maudlin moment to fill the album’s piano ballad quota. The same could also be said for Coping, a mid-tempo ballad underpinned by Coldplayesque crescendo piano chords.
Even though for the most part predictable, Sex & Cigarettes does make for a welcome and cohesive addition to Braxton’s career-spanning discography. The album’s relatively short length (30 minutes) also means that nothing (and, by that, we mean those mawkish ballads) overstays its welcome. All things considered, this is a classic Toni Braxton record that should please both serious and casual fans and further cements her legacy as R&B’s reigning queen of heartache.