Music
Long before Tamar Braxton found success with her Grammy-nominated sophomore album “Love & War,” she recorded music solo and for others. One of which was an inspirational track featured on the soundtrack to the film Kingdom Come. Tamar’s older sister Toni had a supporting role in the film. Toni Braxton starred in ‘Kingdom Come’ Toni’s …
Published on April 27, 2021
2 min readLong before Tamar Braxton found success with her Grammy-nominated sophomore album “Love & War,” she recorded music solo and for others. One of which was an inspirational track featured on the soundtrack to the film Kingdom Come. Tamar’s older sister Toni had a supporting role in the film.
Toni Braxton starred in ‘Kingdom Come’
Toni’s debut feature film was in the 2001 comedy-drama Kingdom Come. The cast was star-studded, with Toni starring alongside Jada Pinkett Smith, LL Cool J, Whoopi Goldberg, Anthony Anderson, Loretta Devine, and Vivica A. Fox. Toni stars as a materialistic relative, Juanita, who married well and likes to flaunt her fabulous lifestyle.
The film tells the story of the Slocumbs family who gather for the funeral of a family member. It’s based on the Off-Broadway play Dearly Departed.
For Toni, starring in the film with her favorite actor Goldberg was a dream come true. In a 2001 interview with Billboard, she gushed about her experience, saying, “I’m not an actress. I don’t even want to take the title. But I’m trying to become one,” she said. “I need to learn, and this was a great place to learn with all these established actors.”
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The film’s director, Doug McHenry, spoke highly of Toni, who hired an acting coach to get her into shape and help her transition from songstress to movie star.
“I wanted people to know I was serious, that I wasn’t playing games,” Braxton said. “People might be like, ‘Oh, she’s on the soundtrack; that’s why she’s in the movie.’ My manager said, ‘We don’t want to be on the soundtrack. People know she can sing. Let’s let people look at her as an actress.'”
Tamar Braxton appeared on the soundtrack for ‘Kingdom Come’
Toni may not have appeared on the soundtrack, but she saved a place for her younger sister Tamar. Tamar performs the song “Try Me.” The song is featured in the film, with Jada Pinkett Smith’s character singing the song at the funeral.
Every song on the soundtrack was written and produced by Kirk Franklin. Tamar was particularly happy to be part of the soundtrack as she could relate to the religious aspect of the film. The song is considered inspirational, more than gospel. On “Try Me,” Tamar sings of turning to your faith in times of trouble or worry.
The chorus of the song sings: “So after your heart’s been torn in two / And you just don’t know what to do / After the rain has come and gone / And the sun still won’t shine / After your friends have walked away / And you’ve run out of words to say / After you’ve tried everything else / Then try me.”
“I’m from a church background, my father is a pastor and sometimes in life you stray away from things and not realize what the truth is and so this is a very positive song that I just want to get across to people that you can do whatever you want to do but you have to go back home someday,” Tamar said of the song in a special DVD feature about the soundtrack.
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