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Toni Originally Supposed To Record "Stranger In My House"!?
YKIGS: Another song that you mentioned earlier was Tamia’s “Stranger in My House”. How did that song come together?
Shep: I wrote it with a young lady named Shae Jones. Initially I wrote it with Toni Braxton in mind. Truthfully I don’t know if Toni heard it, but I sent it to someone at the label there and I never got a call back as far as if she liked it or not. So it was kind of around when I first met Tamia, and she really wasn’t too aware with my work, so I started playing songs. She came up and said that she wanted that one. How I ended up writing a song called “Stranger in my House”, I was in the studio and I had writer’s block. I was trying to come up with a song for Toni and I couldn’t write anything. So I was like “I’m going to shut it down for now. Let me go see a movie,” and I saw “Sixth Sense”. That movie had such a twist at the end so I came back to the studio and was like “I’m going to write a song that has a twist”. So that’s when the bridge says “Could it be that the stranger is me, have I changed so drastically? And you remained the same.” So that’s how the song came about. When Tamia heard it, she loved it. She called Sylvia Rhone had her hear it over the phone. At the time, it wasn’t just really easy using mp3s and then they heard it on the phone, then I went to New York to work with Boyz II Men and I left for a second to meet with Sylvia who heard the song again and wanted it for Tamia. Tamia came on there and she really did it. The demo is nice, but with the range that Tamia has and her beautiful voice and the video. At first, I didn’t care for the video concept. When I was came to the video shoot, she was sitting in the pool and I was like “What are you doing in the pool? Where is the stranger?” but it worked out. I got a chance to see Tamia be as beautiful as she is and then from there on it lifted her career and definitely helped mine as well and we kept that chemistry going with songs like “Me”.
http://youknowigotsoul.com/?p=11676
I can't even imagine Toni singing this song or even how amazing the video would be it would've been even bigger than it was. I wonder what other song were written with Toni in mind?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Godfrey Emmanuel on -
OMG! I can't explain how much I love this song and Tamia sang it so beutifully. I can't believe Toni rejected it, I'm convinced she didn't do that intentionally maybe she had some reasons or maybe as it has been said the record company ignored it without Toni get to hear about the song. I pray for the two to work together in the near future.
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Permalink Reply by fuzzpaul on -
Dammmnnn I remember this song!!!. And shit yeah, Toni would have absolutely owned it!!!
:(
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Permalink Reply by Billy on -
My mouth literally just dropped. I LOVE this song. I knew there was a reason I was drawn to it. It has that "Toni" sound.
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Permalink Reply by Dzemil on -
funny, i was watching this video on youtube early this week. i love the song. and she looked hot in the video.
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Permalink Reply by Cazeliah on -
Damn lol. Surely would have. One person's disappointment was another's blessing.
fuzzpaul said:Dammmnnn I remember this song!!!. And shit yeah, Toni would have absolutely owned it!!!
:(
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Permalink Reply by TB4Life on -
Wow that crazy! I'm trying to imagine Toni singing the song but I just can't. Smh lol
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Permalink Reply by Jesús on -
When I heard this song, I knew it was the same style of Toni Braxton, furthermore one of its remixes was produced by Hex Hector. Although Tamia sings this song perfectly, I'm sure if Toni would have sung it, it would have one of her big hits... I think the voice of Toni is amazing, deep and so sensual!!!
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Permalink Reply by Robbie on -
I agree with everyone here Tamia did a phenomenal job on the song but I can't help now imagining Toni doing her thing on this everytime I listen to the song. As beautiful as Tamia is, the video was always very strange to me, even Tamia has said in interviews the video did not suit the song. I can't even fathom how Toni's rendition of the video would be. Billie Woodruff was definitely doing great video's in the early 2000's so I am sure it would have been epic. On a side note Tamia's new album comes out tomorrow and there is a song called "It's Not Fair" (another Shep anthem, TONI NEEDS TO WORK WITH HIM SO BAD!) here is a Claude Kelly interview talking about how the song would have been "Un-Break My Heart" big if it was still 1998. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm5aOj_EPFI
It always makes me smile when I hear talented songwriters/producers talking about how this song was made with Toni in mind it just goes to show that Toni's voice is so unique and un-matched that you can't help wonder "Hmmmmmmm how would Toni sound with this song!?" :)
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Permalink Reply by givemeasong on -
MIRROR by Keke Wyatt featuring Kelly Price & Tweet, Produced by Shep Crawford, written by Montell Jordan was also given to Toni to record (PULSE) but she never took it, then Tamia, Kelly Price & Deborah Cox recorded it for there Queen Project...Shep was going to give it to En Vogue...but then finally gave it to Keke Wyatt.
YKIGS: There’s a song I want to ask you about specifically from that project and that’s a song called “Mirror” by Keke Wyatt and it has Kelly Price on it. Was that originally intended for the Queen Project?
Shep: Well that was another one that was originally written for Toni Braxton, but for some reason she didn’t take it. Montell Jordan and I wrote it for Toni. So when the Queen Project came about, we were like “Let’s put this on the ladies” and the ladies got on the song. The song was never released. So when the project failed, I was very much holding onto the song and thought about giving it to En Vogue because I was ready to do some work with them, but I was very much holding onto the song. Then the Keke Wyatt project came out, I was working with her and remaking a song called “Love With a New Management”. I sat down with her and listened to her story. I don’t know if you know her story, but she dealt with domestic abuse for years. She had a story, so we started talking about the song “Mirror” and I was starting talking to her label about it, but now I had three people in my mind for, it had to be three ladies on it. Kelly, who I do everything with, was down to do it too. And I didn’t want to reach out to Deborah or Tamia because then I would have had two of the Queen Project on there, so it was kind of like “Which one?” I only wanted one and that was Kelly. We were then trying to figure out who the other person was going to be, we were thinking about Faith Evans or maybe Gladys Knight, and then we all heard the word Tweet and we’re all fans of hers. I was ready and said “Let’s get Tweet” and then we got it done. It was a beautiful record and I wasn’t going to let it get to waste. There were so more songs from The Queen Project initially that you’re probably going to hear from another artist that I won’t let go to waste. It probably won’t be a trio or duet, but there are some songs that are dear to me and wrote from my heart and I’m not going to let it go to waste. I like Keke Wyatt who is now a spokesperson for Domestic Violence and I thought it would be perfect. The song is pretty much a reminder to never go back to a situation that was not healthy for you. I feel like with her, she’s ready to come out with a reality series that I believe with Faith, Tweet, one of the members of SWV. So I thought it would be a great thing for her.
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Permalink Reply by Robbie on
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Oh my god, Oh my god!
What is going on? it's so obvious Shep Crawford is such a fan of Toni and has confirmed 2 AMAZING songs were written with her in mind. Shep in my opinion is the only guy who could probably do as Babyface did with her back in the early 90's possibly even more. Oh Toni pleaseeeee work with Shep!
givemeasong said:MIRROR by Keke Wyatt featuring Kelly Price & Tweet, Produced by Shep Crawford, written by Montell Jordan was also given to Toni to record (PULSE) but she never took it, then Tamia, Kelly Price & Deborah Cox recorded it for there Queen Project...Shep was going to give it to En Vogue...but then finally gave it to Keke Wyatt.
YKIGS: There’s a song I want to ask you about specifically from that project and that’s a song called “Mirror” by Keke Wyatt and it has Kelly Price on it. Was that originally intended for the Queen Project?
Shep: Well that was another one that was originally written for Toni Braxton, but for some reason she didn’t take it. Montell Jordan and I wrote it for Toni. So when the Queen Project came about, we were like “Let’s put this on the ladies” and the ladies got on the song. The song was never released. So when the project failed, I was very much holding onto the song and thought about giving it to En Vogue because I was ready to do some work with them, but I was very much holding onto the song. Then the Keke Wyatt project came out, I was working with her and remaking a song called “Love With a New Management”. I sat down with her and listened to her story. I don’t know if you know her story, but she dealt with domestic abuse for years. She had a story, so we started talking about the song “Mirror” and I was starting talking to her label about it, but now I had three people in my mind for, it had to be three ladies on it. Kelly, who I do everything with, was down to do it too. And I didn’t want to reach out to Deborah or Tamia because then I would have had two of the Queen Project on there, so it was kind of like “Which one?” I only wanted one and that was Kelly. We were then trying to figure out who the other person was going to be, we were thinking about Faith Evans or maybe Gladys Knight, and then we all heard the word Tweet and we’re all fans of hers. I was ready and said “Let’s get Tweet” and then we got it done. It was a beautiful record and I wasn’t going to let it get to waste. There were so more songs from The Queen Project initially that you’re probably going to hear from another artist that I won’t let go to waste. It probably won’t be a trio or duet, but there are some songs that are dear to me and wrote from my heart and I’m not going to let it go to waste. I like Keke Wyatt who is now a spokesperson for Domestic Violence and I thought it would be perfect. The song is pretty much a reminder to never go back to a situation that was not healthy for you. I feel like with her, she’s ready to come out with a reality series that I believe with Faith, Tweet, one of the members of SWV. So I thought it would be a great thing for her.
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Permalink Reply by ally malla on
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I love this song and i don't know how it would be if it were sand by Toni.....and who (from Toni's team) received that song and never called back? I am sure Toni Would love this song and would have made another Un-Break my heart
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