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Every now and again you'll find a singer whose interpretative gifts mesh perfectly with the producer or songwriter at hand. Such magic can be found when Toni takes on one of Babyface's acoustic-based, almost-folky pop tunes. "Let it Flow," "There's No Me Without You," and "Why Should I Care" are all gorgeous ballads with acoustic guitars in the forefront and the heat set on slow-burn, and Toni more than rises to the challenge. Of course, these songs were all solely written and produced by Babyface, so the argument may be made that the artistic vision isn't truly Toni's. The final audio result, however, is truly fantastic.

Unfortunately, R. Kelly doesn't serve Braxton as well; Babyface and Toni often seem two halves of the same whole, while R. Kelly's composition "I Don't Want To," which he also produced, merely sounds like Toni singing along to an R. Kelly karaoke tape. And even Babyface can fall short now and then, proven on the sleepy ballad appropriately titled "In the Late of Night." "Unbreak My Heart," however, is one of the rare moments in R&B that manages to build a bridge to pop and still maintain soul in the recording. No shock that this soaring ballad sealed Toni's then-pending true crossover success.

Even more of a payoff comes when Toni tries something new, as is found on "You're Makin Me High," a hardcore-esque number that boasts lyrics as hard as its groove, and "Talking in My Sleep," a scorcher of a ballad that finds Toni purring her verses in spoken word form. But the main focus here is on achieving classic, romantic soul moments, and in that sense Toni Braxton's "Secrets" is a home-run.


Another sad love album   February 1, 1999
 7 out of 8 found this review helpful

Well not quite. Toni definitly sounds sexier here and a couple songs are frankly sexual and even a bit racy. "You're makin' me high" is the best example. Her trademark broken- hearted sigh is still here and five of the songs are about sad love songs. Then again, aren't everybody's? The music is full and crisp and Toni has a pouporri of producers to choose from-The elegant Tony Rich gives "Come on over" the slow jam-acoustic favorite Babyface with "You're makin' me high", "There's no me without you", "How could an angel break my heart" "Find me a man", "Let it flow", "Why should I care", "In the late of night"(God, that's a lot of songs by him, isn't there?) new jack swingman R. Kelly with "I don't want to" the soulful team of Soulshock & Karlin with "I love me some him" power pop balladeer Diane Warren with "Unbreak my heart" and producer for Brandy Keith Crouch with "Talkin' in his sleep". The last one deals with adultery but not the he-did-me-wrong-i'm walkin'-out-that-door-boy type. Instead she tells you in a random stream of consiousness sort of way, asking a friend for advice girl-to-girl. One of the best songs, "In the late of night" feels like a setting in a lonely mansion in the woods. Toni is one of the best singers in the WORLD! Secrets is definite proof of that.


Repugnant   May 16, 2002
 4 out of 15 found this review helpful

Actually, I really liked Braxton's first album. I was really looking forward to this release and went out to purchase it right away. Half way through this CD, I was bored to tears. Braxton is a tired, wanna-be R&B diva with limited vocal ability. The songs on this CD are whack! And her vocal performance is even worse. No matter how hard she tries, she will never be in the same category as legends like Aretha, Chaka, Tina and Patti. I can't even put her in the same category as Whitney, Mariah or even Sade. Toni mainly gets by on her looks, because she certainly possess very little talent, which she clearly goes out of her way to prove on this dissappointing CD.