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Toni Braxton is back!

It was just February of this year that the Grammy Award-winning songstress announced the end of her 20 year musical career, and back then she meant it when she candidly told the world she had fallen out of love with music and was officially done recording. ”It was a sad moment,” Braxton told HelloBeautiful. “I was really going to retire, I was ready to do it.”  The constantly circus of recording and promoting — all while battling lupus – had taken its toll and made it hard for the singer to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

But over the course of the year, Toni realized she wasn’t quite ready to bow out. “Music is my life force, it’s how I breathe,” she said. “I think I forgot to enjoy it. Sometimes God gives you gifts and you forget that they’re gifts and you take them for granted; I definitely think I did that in the past.”  It was her industry peers who staged an intervention of sorts, and convinced Toni to “breathe” again: “Friends of mine came to my rescue and told me it’s not time,” she said. “Kenny [Babyface]…he helped me alot, Anita BakerMissy ElliottFantasia, so many people said ‘you can’t, it’s not time.’”

Now, the singer is preparing to release a  joint album with Babyface, titled “Love, Marriage & Divorce,” that will come out in February 2014 – one full year after she almost called it quits.   The album’s first single, “Hurt You,” has already hit #1 on both the Adult R&B Songs and Urban Adult Contemporary charts proving that the fans still want some of  Toni Braxton in their ears.  And now, the singer’s relationship with music has taken a different tone.  ”I feel like I’ve been very lucky,” she said of jumping back into the studio to record this new project with Babyface. “The magic of me and Kenny working together — that’s how I started my career — so it’s  come full circle.”

Set your DVR for an electrifying special with Toni Braxton and Babyface that will air exclusively on TV One, February 8, 2014 at 10p ET/9p CT. But first get a sneak peek of “Rollercoaster” — a haunting new track from the duo about the ups and downs of love — and watch Toni tell her full comeback story in the video above.

Click here to order “Love, Marriage & Divorce” on iTunes!  

Why Toni Braxton Returned To Music After Giving Up [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com