djzyonseven
I’ve been rocking with Toni Braxton for more than 30 years.
And technically, my Toni story started before her first album.
Before Toni Braxton dropped in 1993, that voice was already getting our attention on the Boomerang soundtrack.
Give U My Heart with Babyface.
Love Shoulda Brought You Home.
That was 1992.
By 1991, Toni was already working with L.A. Reid and Babyface, and Love Shoulda Brought You Home became her first solo single.
Then her self titled debut arrived on LaFace Records on July 13, 1993.
And once that album dropped?
Yeah.
I was IN. 🎧❤️
Another Sad Love Song.
Breathe Again.
You Mean the World to Me.
Seven Whole Days.
Love Affair
I Belong To You
How Many Ways
Her voice didn’t sound like anybody else’s.
Low.
Sultry.
Sexy
Grown.
And when Toni sang about love going wrong, she could make you feel like maybe you needed to check on YOUR relationship. 😂
That’s part of what made putting together THE SETLIST: My Toni Braxton Favorites harder than I expected.
I started working on this setlist about a month ago.
I finally got it together last night.
And I’m still not calling it finished. 😂
Because this isn’t a greatest hits collection.
It’s MY Toni Braxton setlist.
There’s a difference.
Of course the big records are here.
Breathe Again.
You’re Makin’ Me High.
Un-Break My Heart.
He Wasn’t Man Enough.
But I wanted the records that meant something to me too.
How Could an Angel Break My Heart is absolutely one of them.
I especially love the remix featuring Babyface, where he actually sings back to Toni.
The original album version features Kenny G, while the remix replaces his saxophone passages with Babyface’s vocals.
THAT’S the version I love. 🎤💔
I ❤️ when they duet together, but thats a whole different setlist.🤫
It’s not on spotify but it will be featured here in the audio/videos setlist above ⬆️.
It’s one of the most beautiful songs, ever.♾️
Then there’s Long As I Live.
That one is a sleeper to me.
Toni released it in 2018 from Sex & Cigarettes, nearly 25 years after her debut, and it earned Grammy nominations for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance.
Toni also co-wrote and co-produced it.
That’s longevity.
And that voice was STILL doing what that voice does.
My list also gets into songs like I Love Me Some Him, Gotta Move On, ft H.E.R.), Hit The Freeway, Spanish Guitar, Please, Yesterday, Dance, Gimme Some and Let It Flow (from Waiting To Exhale).
That’s where THE SETLIST gets fun.
I’m not just giving you the records everybody knows.
I’m giving you the Toni records that stayed with ME.
And there’s another reason Toni has always felt personal.
A lot of her music arrived while I was living through my own love story, heartbreak and transition.
By the time Un-Break My Heart came along in 1996, I had met the man who would eventually become my husband, while I was finally closing the door on my first love.
Man…
Talk about timing. 💔➡️❤️
There were moments when Toni wasn’t simply singing songs I liked.
It felt like I was living parts of my life through her music…
Or maybe living her music through my life.
Either way, the connection was there.
Then I became a Quiet Storm DJ, and Toni fit into that world like she’d been designed for it.
I played her on my Quiet Storm shows.
I played the slow records.
I played the uptempo records.
And all these years later, I’m STILL playing Toni Braxton.
That says something.
She’s won seven Grammys across a career that stretches from those early LaFace days through records like The Heat, Love, Marriage & Divorce with Babyface, Sex & Cigarettes and beyond.
But THIS SETLIST isn’t really about awards.
It’s about the songs.
The obvious ones.
The sleepers.
The heartbreak CDS.📀
The sexy records. 🫦
The ⬆️beat ones.
The ones that take me somewhere else.
The ones that take me back in time.⏳
Twenty something songs later;
28 as a matter of fact.
I finally had to make myself stop. 😂🎶
For now...
▶️ pRESSpLAYpLEASE
DJZ7
PS… You’re not going to believe this
Keeping it 💯,
I’ve honestly been listening to Toni almost non-stop for the last couple of days.
Even now.
As I was ending this post, Just Be A Man About It came on and like that…
Damn.🧐
How did I leave THAT off?
And right into THE SETLIST it goes. 🎧
28 became 29 before I could even publish the damn thing. 😂
That may be the most terry ending possible. 🎧❤️
#TheSoundtrackOfWhoIBecame, #ToniBraxton, #pRESSpLAYpLEASE #TheSetlist, #ToniBraxtonFavorites, #UnBreakMyHeart, #BreatheAgain, #YoureMakinMeHigh, #HeWasntManEnough, #90sRnB, #ClassicRnB, #QuietStorm, #RnBMusic
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