“Long as I Live” by Toni Braxton

In “Long as I Live”, Toni Braxton laments over a lost love. The pain is especially excruciating as he has moved on to another shorty. In fact they are the talk of the town. As such Toni feels he has even betrayed her, as in not considering how she would react. And even when she personally sees them together, she can tell that he is really loves his new honeybun. These realities are tearing her apart. 

Her principle gripe with her ex though is that she is still in love with him. In fact she very much desires him romantically. Her present feelings for him are so strong that she can no longer fully remember why they broke up. So not being with him is causing her a great deal of discomfort.

Ultimately Toni admits that, as long as she lives, she is never going to be able to get over her absentee partner.

Facts about “Long as I Live”

• Writer(s): This song was written by Paul Boutin, Antonio Dixon and Toni Braxton.
• Producers(s): Antonio Dixon, who also produced Toni’s 2014 duet album with Babyface, is the producer of this track.
• Album/EP: The name of the album this track is featured on is Toni’s Sex & Cigarettes (2018).
• Release Date: “Long as I Live” was released on 9 February 2018.
• Record Label: Universal Music Group and Def Jam Recordings are the labels behind this song.
• Interesting Stuff: This is Toni Braxton’s eighth number-one song on Billboard’s Adult R&B Songs chart. As of the time she achieved this feat, the only artist who had more is Alicia Keys with 10.

Did “Long as I Live” win a Grammy Award?

The song received two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. Below are the categories this tune was nominated in:

• Best R&B Performance
• Best R&B Song

Toni’s “Sex & Cigarettes” Album

This is the eighth studio offering by US R&B singer Toni Braxton. The project’s official release date was on March 21 of 2018. It was issued through the joint effort of record labels, Universal Records and Def Jam Records.

“Sex & Cigarettes” was promoted by three singles. The first two singles were released before the album. “Deadwood”, the project’s lead single, dropped on September 15 of 2017. The album’s biggest track, “Long as I Live”, was issued as the second single on February 9 of 2018. The final single, “FOH”, dropped on October 3 that year.

Commercially, “Sex & Cigarettes” performed much better than the singer’s previous project, “Braxton Family Christmas”. Locally, it peaked at #22 on the Billboard 200. In the UK, the album reached #33 on the major albums chart there.

In 2019 this project was nominated in the category of “Best R&B Album” at the Grammy Awards.  It lost out to H.E.R.’s self-titled compilation album. Leon Bridges’ “Good Thing” and PJ Morton’s “Gumbo Unplugged (Live)” were also shortlisted in said category.