Anyone Sick of Vanity Projects Like This?

recognizing the importance of Toni Braxton in music, I just don't think she has the type of story worth having a solo feature.

It threw me off seeing this movie pop up about her and I'll tell you why. Toni is still heavily prevalent in the business. She's still out there doing her thing. She has a reality show, still makes amazing music and she's still got "it".

I can't understand why she would want to put her life story out there right now when she's still doing it. Not to be morbid, but usually these biopics come along after an artist has passed on. (ie: Aaliyah, Whitney, Liz...) Toni Braxton has a story to tell, especially as a caution of what not to do in terms of signing these music contracts without legal advice & changing yourself to fit a certain image.

With all that said, it was really eye opening to see all the medical issues she had to face and quite emotional at times. What a pressure she was under having to be financially responsible for everything (I didn't know she had to file bankruptcy twice), including making sure to keep her sisters in the spotlight too. Damn, that's some stress for one person to endure. In that aspect, I can see why she wanted to tell her story, but she's still making moves in the music business so for that I was like...



"You unlock this door with the key of imagination..."

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Am I sick of them? No. Since I don't watch the ones I'm not interested in. And a vanity project about LA Reid wouldn't be one for me. So guess the aspect of "worth having a solo feature" is an opinion that will vary by viewer.

Considering the shenanigans of most entertainers, seeing the life of someone who's "squeaky clean" is a nice change. Don't get me wrong, I am entertained by the life stories of the drug addicted, wh0ring, trashy folks as much as the next person, but not every story has to be follow that plot.

I'm a moderate Toni fan too. Meaning, I like her music but don't follow the details of her life other than what I might see at the checkout line at the Market or while surfing the 'net. And have never watched her reality show. Frankly, I'm not a fan of anyone that much.

But, that being said, I did find this movie enlightening. Given Toni's entertainment persona - her clothes, the songs she sings, the way she might come across in interviews - I would never have guessed she is so "squeaky clean". Hearing about her two bankruptcies, you brand her a spoiled over-spender. Never really thinking it's a record industry issues. (That she got $22mm after is also a revelation)

Keri Lewis played a cheating husband in a video. When you hear of their divorce, He must have been cheating immediately comes to mind. Learning that her father was the cheater in the family. Her illnesses. That her sisters have been with her since the beginning. Etc. Anyway, I appreciate seeing a point of different from the one a bunch of tabloid headlines introduce.

As for the commentary that could have been made, you're right, her belief that her son's Autism punishment is very much something that would come from someone with a strong religious background. And for me at least, that the music industry sucks has been done to death. I thought it was implied in the movie and that was enough. No need to bash us over the head with it.

And yes, the difficulties of a 90's act staying relevant could have been covered but again I didn't think it was a subject that needed to be. Listening to the top of the charts now compared to then and seeing how 90's stars seem to have vanished tells me the struggle for them is real. I don't think I have to be told.



I don't trust people who don't like pets and I don't trust people who pets don't like.

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And speaking as someone who watched the movie, and is a moderate Toni Braxton fan, I do think between the comment she made about her son getting autism as punishment, and her dwindling record sales, there could have been some good commentary there. After all, they build up how religious the Braxtons were for a good part of the movie, so that would cover why she would think that way, and it would have been nice for the movie to address the difficulty of many a 90s R&B act in staying relevant and how much the music industry sucks, outside of just bad contracts.

I see what you're saying. They would have hints that a problem was coming and then she's told that there is an actual problem so she faced with it but they never really showed her struggle with the problem or how she made it through it and the obstacles she had to face while dealing with the situation; it just moved on to something else and the previous problem just disappeared. A lot of stuff could have been touched on a bit more, like her medical problems, her lupus, her son's autism, her marriage breaking up and how she and her very religious family, especially her mother, dealt with the abortion issue. I know that it was only a two hour movie but a lot of those issues could have been covered simultaneously with just a change of dialog.

All typos and misspellings courtesy of a public educational system.

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I think Lifetime approaches a lot of these people about making movies. Toni was probably approached and they offered her good money. That's really all it takes. I just read that Kevin Durant's mother has a biopic coming out. So I'm sure they're handing biopics out like candy now.

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I think the idea to make the movie is more about Toni writing the memoir. So more of them turning her book into a movie. I kinda wanna read the book now. I'm sure they left out a lot from the book. Well I'm assuming at least

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