Rating: ****
Over the past five years, Toni Braxton has reclaimed her status as the undisputed Queen of R&B – and on Spell My Name she proves she’s still befitting of the title.
Just two years after announcing her retirement from music, Toni made a sensational return on duets record Love, Marriage & Divorce with Babyface, and took home the Grammy for Best R&B Album. Her follow-up, the critically acclaimed Sex & Cigarettes, was nominated for a further three prizes.
Hot on the heels of her global As Long As I Live Tour, Toni returned earlier this year with new single Do It, and the slow jam scored her highest radio chart debut of her solo career. And on Spell My Name, the diva delivers more of her trademark sultry vocals over warm, brooding beats like only she can.
After scoring a hit with Do It – which appears twice on the record, including its remix with Missy Elliott – Toni kicked off the album promo with Dance; an unusually upbeat number for the star, which sees her dance away her heartbreak in the wake of a cheating ex.
“Instead of being sad about a relationship not working out,” she explains of the track, “you decide to dance your troubles away in the club or vacuum them away at home.
“It’s just about moving forward from a negative situation, whether that’s a relationship, your job or something else holding you back.”
Over the rest of Spell My Name’s nine songs, though, Toni treads familiar territory masterfully, with vocals as rich as they were on her 1993 debut.
Gotta Move On – the second promo track featuring H.E.R. – takes the star back to her college days and her early relationship experiences, while Fallin’ sees Toni lust over a love that’s destined to fail – “Maybe we’ve had too much and it’s not our season / I don’t know why I keep fallin’ / I don’t say this too often / This how I really feel…”
Meanwhile, Spell My Name, with its T.O.N.I. B.R.A.X.T.O.N. chant, and O.V.E.Rr throw things back to the early ‘00s, and wouldn’t sound out of place on More Than A Woman or the sorely underrated Libra. But with slick production and standout vocals, they remain effortlessly cool in 2020.
It’s on Happy Without Me that she really shines here, with the heart-wrenching piano-driven number seeing the star move on from an ex who’s set to wed his new love. “I almost had you walking down the aisle / But almost doesn’t count / Nothing’s bruised but my ego / And though it hurts, baby I’m happy for you / Even if it means I gotta let you be / Happy without me.”
Follow-up Saturday Night continues on the theme, as the hitmaker explores the loneliness of single life after the breakdown of a relationship, while on bonus track Nothin’ she ends on a high, declaring her love once again and representing Toni as she is now – happily engaged to be married to her beau, rapper and record executive Birdman.
Producing a body of work to follow 2018’s masterful Sex & Cigarettes was never an easy feat but, on Spell My Name, Toni calls on the strengths of her near-30-year career and pushes them forward into a new era, with some of her best vocal performances and songwriting to date.
