Snowflakes is the fourth studio album by American singer Toni Braxton, released on October 23, 2001, by Arista Records.[1] Her first Christmas album, it is a follow-up to her 2000 studio album The Heat. Snowflakes consists of 11 tracks, featuring five R&B-led original songs co-penned with her former husband Keri Lewis and longtime collaborator Babyface, as well as several remixes and cover versions of Christmas standards and carols, one of which is a collaboration with Jamaican musician Shaggy. Throughout the creation process, Braxton also collaborated with L.A. Reid, Poke & Tone, Daryl Simmons and her younger sister Tamar Braxton.
The album received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom compared its nature to Braxton's other work but found the stylized production and original material too contemporary to conjure images of Christmas. Upon its release, Snowflakes debuted at number 119 on the US Billboard 200, and at number 57 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. While it remains her lowest-charting album as of 2018, it eventually earned a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Singles such as "Snowflakes of Love" and "Christmas in Jamaica" became a minor success on the adult contemporary charts.
AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine found Snowflakes to be "something that's very similar to a proper Toni Braxton record, only with an appropriately hushed tone and the sultriness replacing the overt sexiness. Some of the originals are pretty good [...] and the rest that don't make much of an impact are nevertheless pleasant and add to the mood. And that pretty much summarizes the record – it's not remarkable, but it's nice, providing a nice, romantic soundtrack for an evening of cuddling in front of the tree and a roaring fire."[2]Rolling Stone critic K.G. Roth called Snowflakes a "Christmas album that is sometimes cozy, often seductive and always strictly R&B. New songs [...] ooze with the same languid, lush vocals and mellow, hip-swiveling beats that pervade Braxton's other work. Even the standards [...] get glazed with Braxton's sensuality. Her smooth alto lingers on each note and nearly reinvents the classic. A little bit naughty and a whole lot of nice, Snowflakes encourages listeners put the mistletoe to good use this year."[5]
In a less impressed review for Entertainment Weekly, Chris Willmann wrote: "Ever since Elvis sang 'Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me),' singers have assumed that Saint Nick has nothing better to do than find their ex-lovers and give 'em a ride back to their bereft apartments on Christmas Eve. Toni Braxton picks up the thread on [...] Snowflakes. Braxton needs to work harder at getting her man back herself: She sounds uncharacteristically wan here, frequently drowned out by powerful string arrangements.[3] Alexa Camp from Slant Magazine felt that "like Carey wouldn't be able to pull off another pristine Christmas album at this skanky stage in her career, Braxton's Snowflakes would have worked better pre-'You're Makin' Me High'." Highly critical with "the excruciatingly banal" lead single "Christmas in Jamaica", she noted that "there's nary a festive note in original songs like 'Santa Please' and 'Holiday Celebrate' [...] More classic-sounding tunes [...] lift the collection's spirit, but (call me old-fashioned) faithful renditions of 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' and 'The Christmas Song' are the only moments that conjure images of Christmas."[6]
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