Though she only co-wrote a few songs on the album, I think her personality shines through, and that record is a lot more than a template for her voice.Īfter that promising debut, a new team of writers and producers worked on 1998’s Never Say Never.
Brandy Norwood’s 1994 album, Brandy, was a great introduction to a wonderful vocalist.
I want to take a slightly chronological path from here because, as I consider the young Brandy singing at church to the successful artists she is now, one has to look at her earlier years. A talent show regular, her demo CD eventually found its way to Atlantic when the label signed her, Brandy’s mum became her manager”. When she was four, her family moved to LA. “Watching what people’s voices did to audiences, I wanted to see if my voice could do a little of that,” she recalls. As a young child she would accompany her dad, a gospel vocalist and choir director, to their local church in Mississippi. “ Brandy Norwood was always destined to be a singer. In this interview with The Guardian from this year, she discussed her bond with the church:
Brandy definitely learned and honed some of her talent and promise from going to church when she was young. I’d like to think that a lot of the new generation sang at church, but I think it is rare. Arnold, some of the real greats sang at church and things grew from there. From Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples to P.P. Many might assume it is just Soul and Gospel singers who are influenced by church music, but there are so many different artists who sang at church as a child and, from that moment, they were transported. In the case of many singers, they learned about singing and a different way of performance from the church. For some, it is their peers or a particular place. To go in a slightly different direction, and it is amazing to consider where great singers started out what was the root of their soulfulness and ability. It was an incredible moment that I kind of wish we would have seized even more”. I knew that it was gonna be something special, but I had no idea it was going to do what it did. when it all came together, I was like, "OK, this is different." And then when Monica put her stamp on it, you just heard the contrast between her and I. I knew just with the way the track sounded, I never heard anything like that.īut then when the song was written on top of it, and then. I knew that it was a special record before I got on it, before Monica got on it. But I did know that it was a special record. I didn't know how big it was gonna be I had no idea that it would be No. 1, a feat that only eight songs have ever accomplished, including “The Boy Is Mine.” Thinking back, did you have any idea how big of a hit it would become? “ Currently on the Billboard Hot 100, several female duets are hitting No. In a recent interview with Billboard, Brandy talked about the legacy of The Boy Is Mine: I have been listening a lot to music from the ‘90s, and there was something about the time that was electric and hugely inspiring! Some artists might feel slightly regretful being linked to just the one song or people talking about it so much but, for Brandy, it gave her some fresh exposure and took her music to new levels. That entire album was a real breakthrough from Brandy, and it not only showcased her broad thematic range, but an incredible voice – she was crowned the ‘vocal Bible’ after that album. A duet with Monica, the song is taken from Brandy’s hugely admired second album, Never Say Never, of 1998. There are various reasons why it has been a while since her last record but, with B7, we get some classic on her seventh album! Before I look at a few different aspects of Brandy and her music, I want to nod to one of my favourite songs of the 1990s: The Boy Is Mine. With a new album! I really love her music and her last album, 2012’s Two Eleven, was a success.