Music Review: Toni Braxton "How Could An Angel Break My Heart"

Toni Braxton

How Could An Angel Break My Heart

Album: Secrets

Year: 1997

        Toni Braxton idealizes her ex-boyfriend in the churlish “How Could An Angel Break My Heart”

        Pacifiying strings open the single, setting a pitying tone.  A couple months ago, her ex-boyfriend broke up with her. He told her he loved her but he wasn’t in love with her. As she began to sob, he apologized for hurting her and hoped they could still remain in each other lives. For a while, she would answer her phone, believing it was him. She was crushed when it was one of her friends, checking on her to see how she was doing. Last week, her friend told her he was dating someone else. Her friend overheard her ex whisper a song to his new girlfriend. She was stunned and repeated word for word some of the lyrics: “you are mine, I won’t ever let you go/I am blind to another, if they give me their heart.” Her friend then says she saw them making out. It was the exact way he asked her if she wanted an exclusive relationship. She pushes it out of her mind, telling herself it doesn’t mean anything. It his way of still thinking of her by replaying the start of their romance with someone else. (“I heard he sang a lullaby/I heard he sang it from his heart/When I found out thought I would die/Because that lullaby was mine/I heard he sealed it with a kiss/He gently kissed her cherry lips/I found that so hard to believe/Because his kiss belonged to me.”)

               In the chorus, she wonders how she lost a good guy. She must’ve done something wrong. She reasons that she sabotaged their relationship by not paying enough attention to him. (“How could an angel break my heart/Why didn't he catch my falling star/I wish I didn't wish so hard/May be I wished our love apart/How could an angel break my heart.”)

             It has really gotten to her that he dumped her for a white woman. Her friend has gone over to his house since their breakup and noticed a picture of him and his new girlfriend with their arms around each other. She thinks of how his face would beam whenever he saw her and doesn’t believe the other woman is capable of getting the same reaction. He likes a snarky sense of humor and she is wishing hers leans toward being mean-spirited, which would turn him off. (“I heard her face was white as rain/Soft as a rose that blooms in May/He keeps her picture in a frame/And when he sleeps he calls her name/I wonder if she makes him smile/The way he used to smile at me/I hope she doesn't make him laugh/Because his laugh belongs to me.”)

              The chorus is sung again.

            In the bridge, she is unable to handle all the new information and thinks she was the problem. All she needs is a chance to talk him and convince him to give their relationship another try. (“ Oh my soul is dying, it's crying/I'm trying to understand/Please help me.”)

              The chorus is sung again to end the single.

           Braxton’s pathetic, indulgent vocals drown in endless misery, eventually succumbing to condemnation. First, it’s aimed at herself. She wasn’t pretty enough or she did something that really made him angry. It’s a human reaction. Then, it’s aimed at the other woman. Again, it’s a natural to point the finger at the woman. However, there is a major problem the single glosses over.

        The audience learns the woman is white. Why does the race matter? Why was it even brought up at all? It loads her hushed nastiness, charging it with an unsettling amount of ammunition. Now, it’s an issue, an unintended social commentary erring on the side of intolerance.

        Meanwhile, the so-called nice guy who lied and screwed her over? He’s a wonderful, innocent man who got taken in by some (white) harlot, stealing him without a second thought. He’s immediately forgiven and she would get back together with him if the chance ever arose again.  Right now, my jaw won’t stop clicking from it being dropped numerous times.

   The twisted “How Could An Angel Break My Heart” has a messed up message due to one minor, unnecessary detail.

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