Once upon a time, L.A. Reid and Babyface wrote a song for the "Boomerang" soundtrack titled "Love Shoulda Brought You Home," intended for Anita Baker. Schedules didn't match up, however, and the tune was instead handed to LaFace's recent discovery, Toni Braxton. Newcomer Braxton had some large shoes to fill indeed, but as it turned out, her ashen alto fit the blue, done-wrong-by-love lyrics to a T, and an R&B hit was launched. Will an entire project from a newcomer live up to such success?

Hell yes, and then some. Toni's self-titled debut reached out and touched not only R&B audiences but pop fans as well, with her heartfelt renditions of love's torments having the strongest effect. "Another Sad Love Song" is a woeful tale of a girl who can't even turn on the radio without being haunted by the one that got away, and "Breathe Again" finds our heroine resigning herself to life being all but over once her love affair is. These songs, laid over hip-hop and pop grooves respectively, have a melancholy element of blues riding underneath; "Seven Whole Days," however, is borderline jazz in both musical backdrop and vocal delivery.

As on almost anyone's debut, Toni's steps toward artistic self-discovery occasionally stumble: "Love Affair" is too similar to "Seven Whole Days" stylistically, and "Days" never suffers from too-hip lyrics like "I ain't down with O.P.P.," the likes of which are destined to sound drastically dated down the line. Furthermore, "Best Friend" features a sleepily predictable chord progression and lyrics about losing a lover to a best friend that are more melodrama than drama. Still, Toni proves that she can hang loose with the best of them "How Many Ways," a driving ballad that Mary J. Blige would no doubt love to sink her teeth into, and even keeps up with a danceable groove on "I Belong to You."

Flaunting a maturity and intimacy that some of her later work wasn't privvy to, Toni Braxton's self-titled debut remains a significant effort in modern R&B.

When Toni first stepped onto the scene with this debut, she easily defined herself as an artist to watch out for with one of the best albums of the decade. This was released back in '93 when R&B wasn't all about money and power. With the production team of LA Reid & Babyface, you really couldn't go wrong at the time (as they were at the top of their game back then).

The album starts off with "Another Sad Love Song" and "Breathe Again", two crossover hits that worked wonders on both urban and pop stations. Her voice takes you on an emotional ride like few artists can - probably because of her low octave range with excellent ability (actually, this applies to every song on this album). Next is "Seven Whole Days" - a very soulful track. This was followed by "Love Affair", "Candlelight", and "Spending My Time With You", and while they aren't highlights to me, they are good songs nonetheless.

The album continues with "Love Shoulda Brought You Home", originally from the Boomerang Soundtrack, this was the track that launched her into the spotlight. Not a big hit, but it portrayed her as a well established soul artist when it was actually her debut. "I Belong To You" and "How Many Ways" were smaller crossover hits, "I Belong To You" being a fairly upbeat R&B song, and "How Many Ways" featuring haunting vocals. The third big crossover hit "You Mean The World To Me" followed in "Breathe Again's" footsteps as another great song. After this emotional rollercoaster, "Best Friend" can only look weak in comparison. The album finally finishes off with a "Breathe Again" Reprise.

For overall content, I would have to rate this as one of the strongest debut album's ever (easily Toni's best work to date), and in my opinion this gets my vote for album of the 90's. This is filled with many outstanding songs. If I had to pinpoint one, it would be "Another Sad Love Song", which edges out three others (Breathe Again, You Mean The World To Me, and Seven Whole Days) by a thread.

If you were introduced to Toni Braxton by her recent work, I would pick this up because her vocals are unbelievably strong . By today's standards its still a great album, more soulful than "The Heat", and more long-lasting than even "Secrets". An essential purchase for any fan of Soul/R&B.

It's been a decade since this album was released and we can still hear several songs on the radio such as: "another sand love song" which was the first single of the album, was certified Gold in the US, won a Grammy award for "best female pop vocal performance" and became a #1 hit. The second single, "breath again" was also certified Gold, became also a #1 hit and won a Grammy award for "best female pop vocal performance" in 1994, the success of the song was so big that Toni also realesed this song in spanish, the tittle was "respirar", the third single "seven whole days" was also a hit, the song made it to the Top 10 as the fifth single "you mean the world to me", the sixth single which was "how many ways" was a Top 40. Thanks to this hit singles and the song that was part of the "Boomerang" soundtrack. That was Toni's first single ("love shoulda brought you home").
This album sold 10 million copies world-wide (was a #1 in The Billboard 200 for 2 weeks) and brought Toni the 1993 Grammy "Best new artist" and showed the world the new treasure that was in the music market.
Actually I didn't buy this album when was realesed, I bought it in 1997 when Toni's album "secrets" was on its top and because I liked so much "secrets" I decided to buy this one and I know that "secrets" is the sequel of this album with very good lyrics.
I can also say that this production was produced by hit singer/song writer/producer Babyface ("Waiting to exhale", "Boomerang" between other soundtracks) and Antonio L.A Reid (producer of singers like Pink or Avril Lavigne).
You won't be soory if you buy this album and besides, it's a classic.
Good work Toni!!!.

This is a very good album for many reasons. Babyface's songwriting and producing skills have never been better than on this cd. Toni Braxton's voice is showcased in all its majesty on this disc as well. No filler tracks here as every song is a joy to listen to. You almost feel sad when the end comes with the "Breathe Again (Reprise)" a very good way to end the album. The sound quality is very good and it's not even remastered yet! Makes me wonder what a remastered version would sound like if the original already sounds this good. Highly recommended if you like r&b.

By nearly all critical accounts, this album is a classic. Plain and simple. Whether you listen to rock, hip-hop, jazz, rap, adult contemporary, or anything else for that matter, this album is one of those albums that helped defined a musical decade. Songs like "Another Sad Love Song," "Breathe Again," "Seven Whole Days," "You Mean The World To Me," "How Many Ways," and "I Belong To You" were not only monsterously huge hits, but have stood the test of time to become 90's pop classics. The album also includes her 1992 Boomerang mini-movie "Love Shoulda Brought You Home" and some sweet, yet torrid love songs such as "Candlelight" and "Love Affair." Whether you are an R&B fan or not, there is no excuse for not having this essential CD in your collection.