Toni Braxton - "The Heat" (2000)

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

"The Heat" is turning 20 this weekend! It's time this got a thread.

It was released on April 25, 2000. The album marked her departure from her ballads in favor of a more urban sound. The Heat opened at number two on the Billboard 200 with 199,000 copies sold in its first week. It was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 13, 2000, with sales of over 2.2 million copies in the United States. Additionally, the album was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards, while lead single "He Wasn't Man Enough" won for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and was nominated for Best R&B Song. 

What are your fave songs and memories from this era? I mostly have memories of "He Wasn't Man Enough". I remember it being played a lot on my local radio station here. I thought "The Heat" was pretty solid album despite it being very different from her first two albums. I would probably give it 4.5/5. I do much prefer it over her later albums, although Libra was decent. My fave album tracks are He Wasn't Man Enough, Just Be A Man About It, The Heat, The Art of Love, Speaking In Tongues, You've Been Wrong, Never Just For A Ring, and Maybe.

He Wasn't Man Enough: #2 Hot 100, #16 Dance, #1 R&B, #7 Top 40

Just Be A Man About It: #32 Hot 100, #6 R&B

Spanish Guitar: #98 Hot 100, #20 A/C, #1 Dance, #75 R&B

Maybe: #11 Dance, #74 R&B

[Deleted]

I found this very disappointing compared to her first two albums at the time, but I grew to love it. Her first 3 albums were all fantastic.

[bat1990]

Mmmmm, this album is sultry.


Toni doesn't have a bad album except Sex & Cigarettes.

[Dreams]

I rarely listen to it, which is weird because I find it quite strong.

[Ling-Ling]

Is it her best album? Not sure if I can comfortably say that. But it's my favorite Toni album and the one I revisit the most. It gets put into high rotation every summer. Just love how light and breezy the whole thing is. I also love how she approached this album vocally, some of her most delicate and nuanced vocal performances are on here IMO.

It's a shame the era was kind of fumbled though. I don't think it had the makings to be as big as her first two albums, but it could have been bigger.

[#LisaRinna]

I love "Speaking In Tongues" and "I'm Still Breathing" as far as the album tracks.

"Maybe" and "The Heat" should've received a proper push. The first two singles are two of her best EVER.

[back2blk]

As a whole album, it wasn't a strong as the first two. But, the strong material on here was STRONG. Fairy Tale, for example, is one of my favorite ballads she's done.

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

This was from 2020, but it's good analysis of the album.

[jenglisbe]

I love this underrated album. Like Ling-Ling said, I'm not sure it's her best (if only because her first three albums are all so solid front to back), but I do like it a lot.

"He Wasn't Man Enough" was a great lead single; it's catchy and felt relevant to what was going on in music at the time, but it also felt fresh for Toni.

My favorite tracks are "The Heat," "Fairy Tale," "Speaking in Tongues," and "Never Just For a Ring."

That is a great retrospective that 🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲 posted.

[divasummer]

I didn’t give this album much love back in the day besides for “He Wasn’t Man Enough For Me” and maybe another track couple of tracks.
I don’t know why because listening back to the album I’m really enjoying it.
I love “Spanish Guitar”, but at the time I must of just thought it was a rip off of “Unbreak My Heart”?
I’m also really into “The Heat” and a few of the other ballads or midtempo tracks such as. “I’m Still Standing, Fairy Tail and Never Just For A Ring”.
“Maybe” is pretty good and I could probably bop to “Gimmie Some” for a bit.