On this day in 1992, Toni Braxton released ‘Love Shoulda Brought You Home’. It was her first solo single, previously having featured on ‘Give U My Heart’ with Babyface.
‘Love Shoulda Brought You Home’ was written by Babyface, Daryl Simmons, and Bo Watson with Anita Baker in mind as the performer. Back when Toni had only recently been signed to LaFace Records, she recorded a number of demos, which included ‘Love Shoulda Brought You Home’. When Anita Baker declined to commit to recording the song, she casually suggested to L.A. Reid and Babyface that the then-unknown girl singing the demo should be the one to release it; the rest is history.
Because of some personal circumstances, Anita couldn’t contribute after all. “What are we going to do?” Kenny asked. “Who else could we get?” Anita’s response that day turned out to be the third pivotal moment of my career: “Who’s that girl on the demo? She can sing. Why don’t you use her?”
‘Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir’, by Toni Braxton | Chapter: The Boomerang Soundtrack
The song appeared on the soundtrack for ‘Boomerang’, and was also later included on Toni’s debut self-titled album, which was released the following year.
Babyface has said the song was inspired by Halle Berry’s line in the ‘Boomerang’ film, “Love should have brought your ass home last night“, and this scene was used as the intro of Toni’s music video.
‘Love Shoulda Brought You Home’ became Toni’s second Top 5 hit on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and peaked at #33 on the Hot 100.
The song was re-issued in the UK in 1994 following Toni’s success with hits like ‘Another Sad Love Song’ and ‘Breathe Again’, and entered the Top 40.
More recently in 2020, the track was sampled by R&B artist Lucky Daye for the song ‘Shoulda’, featuring Babyface.
‘Love Shoulda Brought You Home’ continues to be regularly included in Toni’s tour set-lists, and remains a fan favourite.
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