djzyonseven
🎬 I’ve featured songs from some of my favorite movie soundtracks before, but somehow I’ve never given an entire soundtrack the full Soundtrack treatment.
Well, that changes today.
And if I’m going to start somewhere, I might as well start with one of the BEST.
Waiting to Exhale. 🔥
This wasn’t just a soundtrack.
This was a whole damn moment. ❤️
In 1995, Terry McMillan’s bestselling novel became a movie directed by Forest Whitaker.
Starring four Black women whose lives weren’t wrapped up in some neat little Hollywood bow.
Whitney Houston was Savannah Jackson.
Angela Bassett was Bernadine Harris.
Lela Rochon was Robin Stokes.
Loretta Devine was Gloria Matthews.
These women had careers, friendships, families, messy relationships and even messier love lives.
They were strong one minute, vulnerable the next, and sometimes making the kind of decisions about men that had you sitting there yelling at the screen, “Girl, WHAT are you doing?” 😂
Basically, they felt real.
And Hollywood wasn’t exactly overflowing with major movies centered on the complicated lives of grown Black women.
We needed this Book, Movie and Soundtrack. 📘🎬🎵
What really held Waiting to Exhale together was friendship.
Men came and went.
Relationships fell apart.
Hearts got broken.
But through all of it, these women had each other. ❤️
Then somebody had to give all those emotions a soundtrack.
Enter my favorite writer/producer of all times, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. 🎹
My man, Babyface went OFF.
Look at the family tree he assembled.
Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan (Legends) represented generations of Black women who’d already kicked down doors.
Whitney Houston was one of the biggest stars on Earth.
Toni Braxton and Mary J. Blige were defining 90s R&B in completely different ways.
Then came Brandy, TLC, SWV and Faith Evans representing another generation.
Women who owned the 70s, 80s and 90s.
My Queens of R&B. 👑
All on ONE soundtrack. 🔥
And again, Babyface at the helm!
What impresses me most is that Babyface understood their voices.
He wrote or cowrote nearly all the original material and produced the entire album, but everybody still sounded like themselves.
Whitney made Exhale (Shoop Shoop) and Why Does It Hurt So Bad sound effortless.
Sittin’ Up in My Room sounds like it could’ve only been made for Brandy.
Let It Flow sounds like it was born for Toni Braxton and that deep, smoky voice of hers.
Aretha Franklin took It Hurts Like Hell and did what only the Queen of Soul could do with a song about pain.
Chaka Khan put that unmistakable Chaka stamp on the classic My Funny Valentine.
Patti LaBelle got My Love, Sweet Love and brought all that Patti soul to it.
TLC brought their own attitude to This Is How It Works.
SWV gave us the smooth All Night Long.
Faith Evans had Kissing You, while Chanté Moore brought that beautiful voice to Wey U.
CeCe Winans joins Whitney for Count on Me at the end.
And what better way to bring it all home than with a song about the one thing that held these women together through it all… friendship. ❤️
But hold on!
My favorite track of from the Soundtrack is Mary J. Blige‘s, Not Gon’ Cry.
That song was written from Bernadine’s point of view after her husband leaves her for another woman following years of marriage and sacrifice.
Who better to sing THAT in 1995 than Mary J. Blige?
Angela Bassett gave Bernadine a face.
Babyface gave Bernadine words.
Mary gave Bernadine a voice.
And child, what a voice she gave her.
Seriously, Waiting to Exhale is straight 🔥!
For me, a lot of these became some of my favorite slow jams and quiet storm radio classics.
Some became radio records.
Some became breakup records.
And others became songs women played because somebody had pissed them ALL The Way Off. 😂
The soundtrack earned an incredible 11 Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, with Babyface winning Best R&B Song for Whitney’s Exhale (Shoop Shoop).
And the love didn’t stop there.
The soundtrack also won Soundtrack Album of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards, Favorite Soundtrack Album at the American Music Awards, and Outstanding Album and Outstanding Soundtrack Album at the NAACP Image Awards; 🏆🔥Including Album of the Year.
When you put it all together, Waiting to Exhale was one of those rare moments when everything just worked.
Terry McMillan created these women on the page.
Forest Whitaker brought them to the screen.
Whitney, Angela, Lela and Loretta gave them faces and personalities.
Babyface gathered some of the greatest women in R&B and gave their emotions music. 🎧
Waiting to Exhale gave us something to watch, something to listen to, and most importantly, something to feel.
And sometimes, that’s all you need before you can finally…
EXHALE.
❤️🎬🎶
djz7
PS…This Soundtrack is pure perfection.👌
#TheSoundtrackOfWhoIBecame, #WaitingToExhale, #Babyface, #WhitneyHouston, #ArethaFranklin, #ChakaKhan, #PattiLaBelle, #MaryJBlige, #ToniBraxton, #Brandy, #FaithEvans, #CeCeWinans, #ChanteMoore, #TLC, #SWV, #SonjaMarie, #Shanna, #90sRnB, #BlackMusicHistory, #RnBClassics, #SoundtrackBlast
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