It's what you need

Now it all makes sense…

Brandy was one of the first R&B singers that I ever fell in love with (before I discovered a whole heap of others lol). But down the road, she really threw me off. But at that time I was too young to comprehend what change ment lol, however, now that I’ve listened to her whole discography, I can truly appreciate the genious of her music and the wonderful talent that is her voice.

Brandy first came on the scene back in ‘94 with her debut album ‘Brandy’. Looking, back you could almost call her the Britney Spears of R&B as she appeared as the perfect sugar sweet girl with tthe baby voice, and that’s what really made me love Brandy (although I first discovered her from her duet with Monica). I really loved how innocent Brandy sounded here. At her most powerful, she would sound reminiscent of her idol Whitney Houston, yet at her most tender, she would sound like a little girl singing for cookies. Brandy’s voice here was very ambitious and you could tell that she really wanted to prove to people that she could sing. Take a listen to one of my favourite songs by her, even though it’s an interlude lol:

By ‘98, Brandy had become a house hold name; already starring in films with Whitney Houston and Diana Ross, winning a grammy for her massive duet with Monica ‘The Boy Is Mine’, a hit show ‘Moesha’, and a massive appeal as a role model to young girls and boys. Here on her Never Say Never album, Brandy’s voice had become a lot sweeter but huskier. However (in my opinion) it also seemed as if Brandy had lost a lot of confidence in her voice hence why she didn’t sound as powerful. Perhaps she was still nursing her break-up from Wanye Morris or maybe coming to terms with the vocal changes that she would soon under go. This stage of Brandy’s career is one that I treasure most because this was where I recognised Brandy as ‘Brandy’, and most likely, if you you mentioned her name to anyone, they would reference her to this period in time. Take a listen to two of my favourite tracks from this era below (this is a fine example of Brandy’s signature sound, vocals, and braids):

2002. By this point, Brandy had fallen from grace a little; an early pregnancy and a fake marriage to preserve her innocent appeal which didn’t work. To be honest with you, by this point, I myself (as a young kid) had lost interest in Brandy and was beginning to discover different artists with different sounds. However , I did really love What About Us, her debut single from her 3rd album Full Moon. It would be much later that I would fall in in love with this album and truly appreciate the runs, harmonies and artistry that was way ahead of it’s time. When I listen to Brandy’s voice on this album, I can hear the transition that was taking place to become the voice that we are hearing now. On this album you can hear how much huskier Brandy’s voice became, yet all the while, her vocal technicality had vastly improved and I can say that, it’s because of this album that so many of her die hard fans (including some famous singers out now) call her the Vocal Bible. (Btw, wait for the run at the very end of ‘I Thought’, it caught me off guard when I first heard it loool!)

and check this amazing remix of What about Us that ive been looking for for YEARs and finally found sometime last year (it’s one of the reasons why I love this song aside from Brandy’s funny way of dancing in the video lol):

When Brandy came back in 2004 with Kanye West in ‘Talk About Our Love’, I was thrown off. I couldn’t understand why she looked so different, why she didn’t have her braids, and why she sounded so weird. However I grew to love the song. But her voice at this stage was very difficult for me to get used to. Eventually I switched off Brandy completely. I couldn’t get into the huskiness and new vocal stylings of her voice. During this time, Beyonce had already become my favourite female R&B singer (before I truly discovered/rediscovered Mariah Carey and Brandy’s discography and vocals). Now that ive listend to Afrodisiac (Brandy’s fourth album at the time), I can appreciate her vocal delivery but it isn’t my favourite highlight of Brandy’s vocal career (though there are select songs that blow my mind, such as the next song below, produced by Kanye):

By the time Brandy had released her 5th studio album ‘Human’ in 2008, she had become a judge on America’s Got Talent, and had been involved with a tragic accident. At this moment in time, I was a bit bored of Brandy. But then a few years later, I woke up and saw the light. After a friend of mine had lent me a couple of albums to listen to (including all of Brandy’s discography up to this album), I found myself giving this album a chance that it truly deserved, after some heavy promotion from my friend LOL. So I listened to the album, and though it was very different from her previous work, I really loved it. Again, it took me a while to appreciate Brandy’s new tone, but once I did, I was hooked. My ears began to really listen out for her complex runs and harmonies over the interesting production, and I found myself trying to emulate her sound. But what really sealed the deal for me was when I stumbled upon Brandy’s videos of her singing in her bathroom:

And since that day, I’ve become a Brandy fanatic. Brandy now sits as one of my all time favourite R&B singers. I remember seeing this clip and thinking ‘I’ve been sleeping on this girl for too long’. Doing some background research, I can assume that Brandy’s new voice is heavily inspired by Kim Burrell (allegedly) but there is no denying that Brandy is so far ahead of the game when it comes to vocals. Check out this clip from her human era which shows up at the very end of her album:

Present day: Brandy has now released her 6th studio album ‘2/11’ which is in honour of her late idol Whitney Houston. This is one of my favourite albums as it truly shows Brandy’s growth as a vocalist and an artist. She has developed her own sound that so many people (Chris Brown, Jazmine Sullivan and Kelly Rowland among others) have respectively tried to emulate. Brandy’s voice now is one that many people look to for vocal inspiration or ‘life’ when they need it! Take a listen to one of my favourite cuts on the album (written by Chris Brown and Sevyn Streeter) and also watch this clip of Brandy tearing the house down in a church with her God given talent:

Them runs, that vibrato, that tone, those harmonies, aaahhhhhh Brandy :D!

If you know Cameo, then you would know of their classic songs such as Word Up, Candy, She’s Strange, Back & Forth etc. Take a listen to one of their earlier songs which has been sampled by two artists known very well by us all:

The Original

The Samples

(this video is deep, you really have to pay attention to everything you’re
seeing and hearing)