After contemplating on retiring from the music scene Toni Braxton made a triumphant return with her longtime friend Babyface for their collaboration "Hurt You". Ahead of the release of their joint album entitled Love, Marriage & Divorce both singers are on the cover of the newest issue of UPTOWN magazine where Braxton speaks in depth on why she considered retiring from the business that brought her so much success over the years. Her insecurities that revolved around her career in music & depression played a major part in her wanting to make the decision, Babyface also opens up about his influence on helping Toni change her mind.
Read excerpts after the jump.
Toni on retiring: “I was in a small place in my life and I was going to retire. It’s not even a question. I said, ‘I’m tired of fighting.’ I was feeling sorry for myself. I was depressed over where my career was going. I was also down with my health. I found out that I developed blood clots and I couldn’t get a grip on this lupus. I didn’t know what was going on with me. I was just in a very uncomfortable place in my life and where I wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to be.
[I was] not suicidal, but it was a close relative. I’ve got my kids to live for, but I was in a hopeless stage in my life. It’s like when you’re going through things and you think you’re the only one. [Industry friends such as Michael McDonald, Fantasia and Missy Elliott] told me, ‘We’ve all felt that, and we’ve been there but it’s not time.’ It helped me a bit. But Babyface was the most influential of all those people in getting me back to it”
Babyface on persuading Toni to comeback to music: “Toni was kind of just talking about giving up, just not really wanting to record anymore—she was not just having fun at it anymore,” Face shares. “I didn’t think that was a very good idea. I talked her into changing her mind.”
You know, you can get frustrated with the music industry, but I never get frustrated with the music. The music is what drives us to begin with. So I don’t think I ever lost sight of that.”
Babyface: “Working with Toni was a little bit different than working with her years ago, because now, we’re dealing with a grown-up Toni who certainly has her own opinion in how she thinks things should be. So we went through a lot of compromises putting this record together.
We were kind of on and off. We started off good, then we slowed down for a bit and just tried to find the things that made sense. We battled on certain songs.”
Toni B: “When I first met Babyface, I was this wide-eyed artist, I was green and I was just happy to be there. I had the mindset of, ‘Mold me, make me, what do you think I should be?"
But, now, I’m an artist like he is: established. I have my own opinions. I know how I want my music to be, so I had to remind him: ‘Kenny, I’m your baby sister, but I have breasts and I have boyfriends. You have to accept that I’m grown up now.’ That was the one big adjustment for him. It was nothing negative, nothing negative at all.”
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