The Heat

"He Wasn't Man Enough" was the first single released from "The Heat" which is a fun, upbeat single. As fun as it may be, I hate that Toni mumbled all of the lyrics - it's really hard to make out what she's saying. She's pulling a Mariah Carey on us (some songs on the Glitter Soundtrack and Charmbracelet have intense mumbling and it's hard to make out the lyrics). Other decent songs just happen to be "Spanish Guitar", unsurprisingly written by Diane Warren who is probably the guru of music writing. Another song that I happen to like is "I'm Still Beathing", which doesn't really offer much, but it's still decent. I dont' know why people praise "The Art Of Love" which consists of no singing, but melodies.

Overall, "The Heat" is boring and very disappointing. It seems Toni Braxton's flame is almost burnt. With her newest release "More Than A Woman", "Hit The Freeway" is a very weak effort featuring the poor vocals from the untalented Loon. Toni Braxton's career, though, could leap back into phenominal status if she started to actually sing songs and not mumble. Her most recent songs don't feature her talents at their pinnacle. Toni needs to wake up and start finding better music to sing for her next release.


Great Album Ms.Braxton-Lewis   June 20, 2003
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I bought this album when i was 14 years old 2 days after it's release date.I was not a huge toni fan But i liked her and he wasn't man enough was really catchy.So i said what the heck. When i got home and played it i couldn't have been more surprised.I heard "Greatness" I mean track after track this album was great."I truly love "Maybe","Fairytale" and the title track.But like i said ever track was great most definatly one of the best record's of the 90's-00's I then went out and bought all of her albums and Fell in love. A must have if you love RnB/pop.And even if your a Neo-Soul head Like me you'll still apperciate it i swear.


Very Disappointed   April 2, 2003
 0 out of 5 found this review helpful

As a huge fan of Toni's I feel this was way below the level of her achievements. I was not impressed with her singing, if one wishes to call it that (on this CD). The only two songs I felt were semi-good was "Just be a man about it" and "He wasn't man enough." This CD is in my collection but was a waste of money and is never listened to, hopefully her newest CD is much better.


open up!!   March 25, 2003
 0 out of 3 found this review helpful

This album is a complete, total, utter waste of money. AND a disgrace to a singer and the RnB industry and a disgrace to her lable company!! She doesnyt open up her mouth and SING! She mumbles her way through 90% of all the songs! There are weird beats for example, the beat of gimme some [5] is uncatchable. No clear beat to ityyou cannot predict it and if you felt like singing alongy.it is amazingly hard. A beat here there, half beats, full beatsy.really, there is no pattern. The two sensible songs are yhe wasnyt man enoughy and yjust be a man about ity. Although in yhe wasnyt man enoughy she still mumbles! If she only opens her mouth maybe she would gain 2 stars! Toni has an amazing voice-3 octaves. That is a lot of voice to use. But this album is centred around the lower half of the voice range. The rest of her voice is used for screeching in the background! The songs are also pretty much sound the same, you canyt tell one from anotherythe same mumble, mumble, screech, screech! There really isnyt any sense in buying this album! Even Ashanti can sing better. And, for her recent album[more than a woman]ythe title suggests for me, a disturbing thought! ;) Really, she should open up her mouth and use that voice. Also, she doesnyt thank anyone and openly admits she is dropping namesye.g. she says she is dropping names like Whitney Houston! A diva like that, a platinum artist being dropped by someone who mumbles! Now I have seen everythingyalthough Eminem winning an Oscar was hilarious! And she doesnyt thank the being that makes all things possibleyGod!! She dropped Godys name!! What a lowly womanynobody can get lower than that! That is just pathetic! Her previous albums are amazing but these two albums [The heat and more than a woman] are clearly showing that this lady needs help in opening her mouth! I wish there was an option of no stars! People a better album isyAvril Lavigne yLet Goy. Or you could even go out and buy a amazing album called ySurvivory by Destinyys Child or try out yThe Writings On the Wally or the 10x platinum ySongs in A Minoryy.this album, the Heatyis like air, it goes through one ear and out the otherynot fire, it ainyt hotyit is less than cold!! Donyt buy it if you want to treasure good music! Waste of time. Thanx 4 reading [if you did ;)]


Smouldering without actually catching fire   March 8, 2003
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

On "The Heat", Toni Braxton managed to prove exactly how sexy an alto could be, picking up where "You're Making Me High" left off in 1996. "He Wasn't Man Enough", the first single, went gold and won Toni her sixth Grammy, and not without reason - it is definitely the best track on the album. "Just Be A Man About It" and "Spanish Guitar", the follow-ups, aren't really representative of the better material on this album. "I'm Still Breathing" would have been an much better choice for a second single. It's an amazing, powerful ballad which works better with Toni's voice than "Spanish Guitar", which doesn't require as much emotion.
The impression I get of this album is that Toni decided to experiment with creating a Sade-type album that was meant for winter evenings by the fire with that special someone. If that really was her intention, then she succeeded admirably in the most of the CD. In that case, though, the up-tempo "Gimme Some" sticks out like a sore thumb, although by itself it's one of the best tracks on the album. All in all, though, this album's forte is the atmosphere it creates, with surreal tracks like "The Art of Love" (which seems to have been included only for this reason - because it's not really a stand-alone song) and "Speaking In Tongues". The quieter R&B of "Maybe" adds colour to the CD without jarring the flow.
Overall, "The Heat" quite unlike anything Toni previously released in that the focus is more on the atmosphere of the album instead of generating hit singles. Only a few of the songs really shine as stand-alone tracks, but it doesn't really matter. A must for mood music collections.