“Waiting To Exhale” Soundtrack Review

Cybrieme Hargrove

As a child born in the 1990s (well, the last eight days), my opinions on 90s music are rather fierce. The monumental 1995 film, Waiting to Exhale and its accompanying soundtrack, written and produced by Babyface, is just one album I truly treasure. Growing up, I played the soundtrack way more than the movie, because the songs were just that good. But I wasn’t the only one; in its third week, the album reached number one on Billboard’s R&B Albums chart, selling 200,000 copies, and stayed there for ten non-consecutive weeks. The Waiting To Exhale soundtrack would go on to sell twelve million copies worldwide, and earn eleven Grammy nominations, winning one for best R&B song for “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)”.

As a music producer myself, I try to emulate a lot from 90s greats like Babyface, Timberland, and Dr. Dre sonically, and I’ve learned quite a few things. One takeaway from this album in particular is just how important it is to collaborate with people you trust and respect. Whitney Houston hailed Babyface as a genius for his songwriting process, while Babyface praised Whitney for her knack for cultivating and curating features. Whitney clearly knew what she was doing when she helped make the set list. Picking many singers whose stardom still shines today, like Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, and TLC. A couple of my favorite tracks are “Not Gon’ Cry” sung by Mary J. Blige and the closing track “Count On Me” sung by Whitney Houston and Cece Winans. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly suggest you do so and watch the movie while you’re at it.