Babyface

Babyface

Babyface, Why Women Love Him

Who better to produce the soundtrack for Terry McMillan's female-focused Waiting to Exhale than the woman-wooing Babyface?
The songwriter/producer, a Smokey Robinson for the '90s, has racked up 98 top 10 hits on the R& B and pop charts, many of them driven by a legion of female fans.
In contrast to gangsta rappers' misogynistic name-calling, Babyface toured the USA earlier this year giving out $100 bills that he said were to pay women's rent. Sure, it was a crafty stage stunt, but it reflected his respectful attitude.
It's a little easier and it makes more sense writing from the perspective of women," says Babyface. "They can be honest about themselves, where men can't.
Today, younger guys' mentality and how they treat women has gone down so much. To them, they've become nonpeople. Women have suffered so much pain."
The story of pain and triumph attracted him to McMillan's Exhale novel, about four best friends coming to terms with men. "It's another perspective," Babyface says. "I can turn it around and imagine myself going through what they've gone through. Everybody has had a broken heart at one point, you know."
With the book a best seller and Babyface himself a hitmaker, he had no problems drawing big names for the soundtrack. "They all knew the book. They said, 'We'll do it if we can work with 'Face.' That was everyone's hope, that I would write a song for them."
He watched the film and wrote songs accordingly, matching them later to the appropriate artist.
Whitney Houston, who helped Babyface choose the artists "invited" to participate, sings three cuts.
"We definitely tried not to repeat Bodyguard," he says. "This music had to match the film. I didn't care if a song was a guaranteed hit; if it didn't fit, I didn't want it there."
But he has the hit anyway with the first single, Houston's Exhale (Shoop Shoop), topping Billboard's pop and R&B charts this week.
It took about three months to get all the singers recorded. Aretha Franklin beckoned him to Detroit, where she whipped up oxtail stew. "Whenever I work with Aretha, she brings some kind of soul food," says Babyface.
Franklin completed her song, It Hurts Like Hell, in one session. "She knows exactly what to do," he says. After giving up smoking, she's hitting "notes she hadn't hit in years."
Patti LaBelle was fast too, recording My Love, Sweet Love, in Babyface's Atlanta home studio. It's almost like a bedroom, right behind the kitchen, he says. She was obviously comfortable there.
Babyface was impressed with the newer singers as well. With Mary J. Blige, you hear so much soul and pain in her voice. That's what's so cool about her.
He feels Chante Moore is an "underrated vocalist. She has the voice of an angel at times. I see a future for her. She just needs the right songs."
He was also knocked out by Brandy. "She's one of the best vocalists out. She has an amazing tone and the mind of a veteran when she sings. She knows just what she wants to give you. It's like working with an older person.
Babyface also scored the film. I was a little nervous about that. But (director) Forest (Whitaker) was very supportive. He would say, 'Don't worry about it. The reason I got you was because I felt you would write from the heart, and the heart would come out in the music.'
He's right, says Babyface.The emotions don't always have to be the big-time pop thing. It just has to come from within.
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