Toni Braxton’s More Than a Woman

J.Lo, Mariah, Ashanti, Missy, Avril, Shania and other pop divas of all shapes, ages and persuasions have been the dominant force in the hit charts these past months. So what’s to stop us from taking a look at how one of the original R&B divas is faring these days. And that is no other than the great-looking and of course great-sounding Toni Braxton.

The days of being sensational tabloid fodder seem over for Toni but that does not mean she is now to be put to pasture. The diminutive diva still fills out her bikinis in the right places but she is now married and raising kids. Her singing though is as mesmerizing as when she did Unbreak My Heart and she continues to look into other possibilities she can put to use in her music. In fact, her latest More Than a Woman is an adventure into the realm of hip hop. It is a laudable production that effectively showcases her sexy styling.

Toni’s beginnings are rooted in the kind of R&B associated with the famous Babyface, who produced her earlier releases. The sound is what the Grammys now refer to as traditional R&B. To put some pizazz in More Than a Woman Toni has taken on new producers, Irv Gotti and the Neptunes who, we might say retooled her sound into something new by injecting touches of hip hop into her album. Examples of these are her collaborations with Loon and the Big Tymers and she even samples Tupac Shakur. She sings the late rapper’s hit tune Me and My Girlfriend and includes his voice in the track.

Her singing adapts well to the throbbing hip hop beat and Me and My Girlfriend, the opening cut Let Me Show You the Way Out plus Give It Back with the Big Tymers, Hit the Freeway and A Better Man are among the album’s best cuts. These show that she easily attained mastery of the push and pull kind of recrimination writing inherent to the genre and she can now hold her own as a hip hop diva.

But perhaps because I am one of those who still believe that Unbreak My Heart is one of the best love songs ever written, my top pick in More Than a Woman is the Babyface production of And I Love You. It is a real standout in the predominantly hip hop set and as in her early albums, Braxton’s singing here takes on that catch-in-the-throat cooing quality listeners find so appealing. The entire recording is what good R&B music should be. Sweet, sexy and very romantic.

It is nice to find Toni Braxton back in the groove. Take time to listen to this one. The other songs in More Than a Woman are Lies, Lies, Lies, Rock Me, Roll Me, Selfish, Do You Remember When, Tell Me and Always.

Top-selling albums

The top-selling albums of the moment as per Billboard Magazine’s Top 200 listing are the following: Get Rich or Die Tryin’ by Eminem’s protégé, the new group 50 Cent; Home, by the Grammy-winning country trio Dixie Chicks; Come Away with Me, by top Grammy winner Norah Jones; Cocky by Kid Rock, which has been in the hit list for over a year; Chicago, the soundtrack of the Academy Award nominated musical; Let Go by Avril Lavigne; For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome by George Strait; This is Me… Then by Jennifer Lopez; Up! by Shania Twain; It Had to be You… The Great American Songbook, the magical collection of standards by Brit rocker Rod Stewart; and because the album has been hanging in there for among the top sellers for a remarkable 62 weeks, I thought I’d also mention number 11, Josh Groban the self-titled debut album by the sensational young baritone.

And here are the top 10 tunes in the Hot 100 tabulation: All I Have by Jennifer Lopez featuring LL Cool J; In Da Club by 50 Percent; Mesmerize by Ja Rule featuring Ashanti; Bump, Bump, Bump by B2K & P.Diddy; Miss You by Aaliyah; Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake; I’m with You by Avril Lavigne; Beautiful by Christina Aguilera; Gossip Folks by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott featuring Ludacris; and Landslide by Dixie Chicks; and also because this new single sent the album Cocky skyrocketing to the album top 10 after 65 weeks in the market, I thought I’d also mention the number 11 selling single, Picture by Kid Rock featuring Sheryl Crow.