Toni Braxton

Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds likes to make women suffer. That's what pop songwriters do, for the most part, and Edmonds has employed some of the most talented women in the field to consciously explore the full continuum of romantic pain. But Toni Brax-ton was the sort of multiplatinum masochist a songsmith stumbles across once in a career. Her taut huskiness was palpably physical, as if her sadness was literally constricting her throat: She sings "I shall never breathe again" as if in need of mouth-to-mouth. As for the remainder of the material, one title said it all: "Another Sad Love Song."

If her debut hinted that Braxton's romantic despair was a narrow patch of turf to mow, best sampled a single at a time, Secrets allowed Braxton to move through a wider range of emotions than anyone had reason to previously suspect. Though both songs are thematically similar, the aural striptease of "You're Makin' Me High" couldn't be farther from the girlish flirtatiousness of "I Love Me Some Him." And "Un-Break My Heart" is Braxton at her most monolithically abject -- maintaining a pained, almost heroic dignity as she prostrates herself before her tormentor.

Success was not kind to Braxton's musical persona -- stars don't need to play the victim, after all. And The Heat allows Braxton to breathe heavily over the gently strummed Spanish guitars beloved by Babyface as well as most directors of soft-core porn. The catty "He Wasn't Man Enough" steams things up. The rest is just hot air. By contrast, Snowflakes, a quickie Christmas moneymaker, is as chilly as its title, with Braxton's refined stylings toppling over into sanctimony.

But Braxton was at her toughest on More Than a Woman -- in fact, no other woman in R&B was coming up with kiss-offs like "Hit the Freeway" and "Let Me Show You the Way (Out)." Ultimate renders most of her studio albums redundant, and the steady increase in sass as her career progresses is fun to track. (KEITH HARRIS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide