Recorded for Island, Spell My Name follows the Def Jam-issued Sex & Cigarettes by only two years. That's the shortest period between proper Toni Braxton studio albums. Granted, this is similarly compact, even with its appended tracks: the solo version of the pre-album single "Do It," and another Babyface collaboration, a devotional ballad grounded in classic Southern soul that doesn't fit with what precedes it. The title song is pulsing modern quiet storm concerning a dalliance with a lover half Braxton's age, played by duet partner Johnny Yukon with Drake-like deference (thereby flipping the standard older man/younger woman scenario more than her Trey Songz collaboration a decade earlier). Apart from the finely applied strings and a sense of temptation, it's not really representative of the album. Braxton spends the rest of the set succumbing to desire recognized as ill-fated, mourning unfulfillment, waving off a cheating ex, and swearing during the emotional peak -- in one of many piano ballads -- that she wishes nothing but the best for the one who got away, while each wrenched note conveys devastation. Only the pleasant if indistinctive neo-disco opener is uptempo. The rest is mostly glowering ballads and conflicted slow jams, exemplified by the smoldering slow stepper "Move On," featuring the compatible H.E.R. on sympathetic background vocals and guitar. The material tends toward routine, but Braxton's elegant distress cuts through everything with conviction.Recorded for Island, Spell My Name follows the Def Jam-issued Sex & Cigarettes by only two years. That's the shortest period between proper Toni Braxton studio albums. Granted, this is similarly compact, even with its appended tracks: the solo version of the pre-album single "Do It," and another Babyface collaboration, a devotional ballad grounded in classic Southern soul that doesn't fit with what precedes it. The title song is pulsing modern quiet storm concerning a dalliance with a lover half Braxton's age, played by duet partner Johnny Yukon with Drake-like deference (thereby flipping the standard older man/younger woman scenario more than her Trey Songz collaboration a decade earlier). Apart from the finely applied strings and a sense of temptation, it's not really representative of the album. Braxton spends the rest of the set succumbing to desire recognized as ill-fated, mourning unfulfillment, waving off a cheating ex, and swearing during the emotional peak -- in one of many piano ballads -- that she wishes nothing but the best for the one who got away, while each wrenched note conveys devastation. Only the pleasant if indistinctive neo-disco opener is uptempo. The rest is mostly glowering ballads and conflicted slow jams, exemplified by the smoldering slow stepper "Move On," featuring the compatible H.E.R. on sympathetic background vocals and guitar. The material tends toward routine, but Braxton's elegant distress cuts through everything with conviction.false2023-07-29 07:10:47Spell My Name620202020-08-282020-08-2835Contemporary R&B1142472349347928b9d7d-59b5-4846-9ffc-a07cba9c37473c8a8696-e176-4c46-a2d3-48b6b1525c7fb8c39fd9-3359-4eab-9a17-99af7e323533/media/data/media3/Music/Toni Braxton/Spell My Name (2020)/folder.jpgToni BraxtonAlbumArtist/config/metadata/People/T/Toni Braxton/folder.jpgToni BraxtonArtist/config/metadata/People/T/Toni Braxton/folder.jpgToni BraxtonToni BraxtonToni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won seven Grammy Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards, and numerous other accolades. In 2011, Braxton was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. In 2017 she was honored with the Legend Award at the Soul Train Music Awards.
In the late 1980s, Braxton began performing with her sisters in a music group known as The Braxtons; the group was signed to Arista Records. After attracting the attention of producers Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and being signed to LaFace Records, Braxton released her self-titled debut studio album in 1993. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 10 million copies worldwide. In addition, the singles "Another Sad Love Song" and "Breathe Again" became international successes. The album brought Braxton three Grammy Awards, including the Grammy for Best New Artist.
Braxton experienced continued success with the albums Secrets (1996), which included the U.S. #1 hit singles "You're Makin' Me High/Let It Flow" and "Un-Break My Heart"; and The Heat (2000), which opened at #2 on the Billboard 200 and included the U.S. #2 hit single "He Wasn't Man Enough". Braxton's subsequent studio albums, More Than a Woman (2002), Libra (2005) and Pulse (2010), were released amid contractual disputes and health issues. In 2014, Braxton and longtime collaborator Babyface released a duet album entitled Love, Marriage & Divorce that earned the duo a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album in 2015. Further label changes saw the release of Sex & Cigarettes (2018) under Def Jam/Universal and Spell My Name (2020) under Island.
Braxton is also a television executive producer and personality. She competed in the seventh season of the reality competition series Dancing with the Stars. She has executive produced and starred in Braxton Family Values, a reality television series that aired on We TV from 2011 to 2020. Braxton was also an executive producer of Tamar & Vince, a spinoff reality TV series starring her younger sister, Tamar.