Toni Braxton

As designer champagne 'n' anguish R&B goes, Secrets goes down nice and easy. A little too
easy. The tiptoe tempos and low-wattage arrangements – particularly the grass-mat effect
of the guitar playing on several of the tracks produced by Babyface – smooth out all the
bumps in these in-and-out-of-heart-break songs. Even "I Don't Want To," written and
produced by rumpled-sheet soulman R. Kelly, is a quiet groan of loss and abstine... More >

Front-loaded with five pieces of sexy rocket fuel, including a miraculous Diane Warren ballad you'll want to hear again--the miracle being that it's by Diane Warren and you want to hear it again. Soon the air whooshes out except for the Waiting To Exhale hit and "Love Me Some Him" with its overdubbed yes, but by then her pop presence is established. The apprentice diva of the debut was modest, composed, virtually anonymous. I'll take the right It Girl anytime--especially one who insists on getting her props. (Grade: A-)