Multi-platinum, Grammy-winning, superstar Brandy releases her fifth full-length studio album Human online and in stores Tuesday, December 9, 2008. Human is a bold and breathtaking collection of songs that represents Brandy’s growth as an artist and a human being. “It’s musical, it’s creative, it’s different than anything you’ve heard in a long time,” Brandy says about her debut release with Epic Records and first album since 2004’s gold-selling Afrodisiac. “It’s quality music and I feel like it’s music that’s going to last for a long time.”
The first single “Right Here (Departed)” was No. 1 for six consecutive weeks on BET’s “106 & Park”. Brandy says the song is very personal. “In the last couple of years, there have been different circumstances in my life and I felt like what I needed was extra support, extra encouragement, extra love. That song was written for that purpose in my life,” she says. “And it was very inspirational and as soon as I heard it, I knew that was a song that I was supposed to sing.”
Human was Executive Produced by Brandy and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who first worked with Brandy on her 1998 multi-platinum album Never Say Never. The return collaboration on Human proves equally successful. “Rodney really wanted to make a classic album, and so did I,” Brandy says. “The chemistry gave us exactly what we wanted.”
Brandy also spreads her wings artistically and experiments with new vocal arrangements and explores fresh sounds on Human. “I just had a great time making the album,” she says. “Recording this album I met great people, great producers, great writers. And this is the first album I kind of ventured out and explored and it was a lot of fun.”
While recording Human, Brandy also collaborated with British pop singer/songwriter Natasha Bedingfield co-writing “Piano Man”, “Long Distance”, “Fall” and “Torn Down” creating pop-friendly songs with classical R&B arrangements. On Human, Brandy also teamed up with Brian Kennedy (Rihanna’s “Disturbia”), RedOne (Lady GaGa), and James Fauntleroy (Jordin Sparks “No Air”).
The second single “Long Distance” is a perfect example of how Brandy takes her contralto voice and gives emotions to the lyrics. “I know that there are people that are in long-distance relationships, and that’s the song I feel like so many people can just understand and feel, like ‘Oh my god, I actually went through that.’ And that’s the type of an album I wanted to make,” she explains about Human.
“Sometimes you get albums and you don’t feel any connection to them, but I think with the lyrics and the melody and just the message in the songs — people are really going to be able to embrace them.” Human also represents Brandy’s return to what she’s been doing professionally since she was 15 years old and released her four-times platinum debut Brandyin 1994. “I love music, and music is what I live for,” she says. “It’s the best way I can convey my feelings, my purpose, and it’s what I love to do and I will continue to always put out music and I won’t take as long anymore,” she says. “I’m just happy to be back doing what I love to do. I feel fulfilled now that music is part of my life again.”
Brandy Norwood was born in McComb, Mississippi and moved with her family to Carson, California at the age of 4. Her debut album Brandy was a huge success with four chart-topping singles: “I Wanna Be Down”, “Baby”, “Best Friend” and “Brokenhearted” (her duet with Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men).
Brandy’s second album Never Say Never Again was five times platinum and has sold more than 14 million copies. That album’s smash duet with Monica, “The Boy is Mine” was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 straight weeks. The single also garnered numerous awards including Billboard’s R&B Sales Single of the Year and Hot 100 Sales Single of the Year, MTV’s VMA for Best R&B Video and a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Her third platinum-selling album Full Moon was No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip Hop Album chart. Aside from her accomplished music career, Brandy has been a successful actress notably known for her TV role as “Moesha” and her star turn in the Emmy Award-winning Disney special “Cinderella.”
While she has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide and is one of the top-selling female recording artists in history, Brandy is also a woman and a single mother. Many of the songs on Human offer a glimpse into her personal growth, understanding of life, and need to sing about human condition. “I think the music is coming from an honest place,” she says. “You listen to it, you can feel where I’m coming from; you can understand it. And I think that you can relate to it once you hear it.”
Brandy’s story from child star to superstar is like a dream come true, but Human shows another side. “I want to convey that I’m just like you. I’m just like anybody else,” she says referring to her fans. “I go through the same things. I react in some of the same ways, and at the end of the day, I’m a human being just like the next person.”
