Let’s Take it Back to the Way it Was

Nobody shaped the sound of the nineties more than Babyface. The guy first reached number one with a song he wrote and produced in 1990 with I’m Your Baby Tonight by Whitney Houston. Those number ones kept mounting throughout the decade including two of the biggest songs of the decade from Boyz II Men (End of the Road and I’ll Make Love to You) before moving into other genres writing and producing hit songs for Madonna and Eric Clapton. He even won three straight Producer of the Year Grammy’s from 95-97. But when the new millennium hit, RnB music that we knew in the nineties was changing quickly and every RnB singer either went heavy in hip-hop or dance beats and the baby-making music that Babyface specialize seemed as old as the decade and he has not been to the top of the charts since, be it his own music or the songs he produced.

One of the artists that befitted most from Babyface’s pen was Toni Braxton, he wrote and produced her first four top ten songs. He did the bulk of the writing and production on her first two albums, both of which sold over five million copies each. Is it a coincidence that her last three albums, which featured a total of two songs written by Babyface never reached even a million sold? Maybe, but has sunk from the spotlight much like Babyface has over the past decade.

Not only has Toni Braxton brought Babyface back into the fold for her latest album, it is billed as a duet album between the two. Love, Marriage‎ and Divorce captures what was great about the duo back when the music they made was being played in the background in the conception of many of teenagers walking around today. Like the duo says halfway through the album, “Reunited, back to the business of love.” This may be the album nineties RnB fans have been waiting for since hip-hop and dance beats ruined the genre. Okay, there is one “dance” track, Heart Attack, but it is more disco than today’s annoying electronic variation.

Though hope takes up two thirds of the title, the break up makes the best music and those are the best tracks on the album. Both singers bring their best to the epic Hurt You where both lovers cheat on each other that starts off as a piano ballad before transforming into something bigger. If there were any justice, this song and album kicks off a new retro era in RnB. The genre is definite need of some reinvention, even if its back words. Maybe Babyface can produce a full Boyz II Men album next.

Song to Download – Hurt You

Love, Marriage, and Divorce gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.