Waiting To Exhale: Original Soundtrack Album - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Upon release, Waiting to Exhale Soundtrack received critical acclaim. Stephen Holden and Jon Pareles of the New York Times praised Babyface's ability as composer and producer, both choosing the album as one of the top 10 albums of 1995. Hoden described him as "the most creative pop-soul musician since the prime of Stevie Wonder", and commented "he has created a suite of songs that evoke women's emotional and sexual fantasies with an astonishing sympathy, directness and expressive range." Pareles stated "Babyface gathers most of the sultriest female singers in current rhythm-and-blues and matches them with his own tender, gently pulsating songs. He uses understatement for seduction." Writing for New York Times on February 2, 1997, James Hunter called Waiting to Exhale Soundtrack "one of the commercial and artistic peaks of the new rhythm-and-blues." Geoffrey Himes, in an editorial review for Amazon.com, stated that the soundtrack album is "a fascinating song suite, and one of the best middle-of-the-road-pop, adult-contemporary albums of the decade." Among its sixteen songs, he complimented "Not Gon' Cry" performed by Mary J. Blige especially, commenting "Babyface's music and lyrics suggest a woman barely holding back a swelling flood of anger and heartache, and Blige's brilliant vocal captures both the agitation and the restraint." Josef Woodard of Entertainment Weekly gave the album an B, stating "Babyface shows an uncanny ability to blend Houston's pleasant, soft-edged commerciality with the sexually explicit and cutting-edge hip-hop of TLC. The album goes down easy, just as you'd expect from a package framed by Whitney Houston tracks. Fittingly, the soundtrack waits to exhale, hovering in sensuous suspense." Jean Rosenbluth from Los Angeles Times noted Babyface's lyrics, saying "he has captured what it can mean to be a woman in 1995." In addition, she praised Whitney Houston and Toni Braxton for their vocals, stating their songs "with rich, smoky vocals as thick as Inland Empire smog, exude maturity without resorting to the relentlessly big vocals that characterize so many R&B records aiming for adult audiences." However unlike other critics that praised Babyface for his producing and songwriting ability on the album highly, Greg Kot, the music critic of the Chicago Tribune, was critical of his lyrics and production. Kot wrote "while Babyface's notions are noble, his lyrics too often settle for cliches instead of specifics, and the arrangements are swathed in the kind of synthesized wallpaper that is turning black pop into bland pop. In achieving a dignified elegance, Babyface forgot about the soul." Craig Lytle with Allmusic rated Waiting to Exhale soundtrack four out-of five stars, and in his review of the album, paid more attention to female vocalists and their performances than lyrics or production for each track, calling the album "outstanding all-female set." Lytle said "the dynamic vocalist sails through the emotional 'Why Does It Hurt So Bad.' On the inspirational duet 'Count on Me,' with CeCe Winas, and both accomplished singers raise all hopes with their comforting vocals", and went to on comment " three stellar selections by three divas ㅡ Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, and Chaka Khan, their voices just defy time by soaring to admirable feats." Billboard magazine described the soundtrack album as "an impeccably timed album with unlimited hit potential", and commented that it is "passionate" ("Sittin' Up in My Room"), "saucy" ("This Is How It Works"), "jazzy" ("Wey U"), and "torch" ("Count on Me").