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Music | 7 hours ago

Brandy Norwood Only Wanted To Sing... Instead Brandy Became A Star
A Comeback Worth Waiting For
by Sydney Gore


Photographed by Kat Morgan

If his?tory has taught us any?thing, it?s that im?por?tant peo?ple need only be known by their first names. For many fam?i?lies (and es?pe?cially black fam?i?lies), Brandy Nor?wood was a house?hold name dur?ing the ?90s. As a child, I did not re?al?ize the mag?ni?tude of the im?pact that Brandy made when she graced the screen as the first black princess when she played Cin?derella in 1997, across from her idol Whit?ney Hous?ton. Ob?vi?ously, it mat?tered in my own lit?tle world, but what Brandy ac?com?plished was more mon?u?men?tal than that. Brandy wasn?t the ex?cep?tion?she was the ex?am?ple for girls who looked like me. She demon?strated what we could achieve if we be?lieved in our?selves. With her in the spot?light, we shined too.

Through?out her ca?reer, Brandy has ac?com?plished count?less com?mer?cial suc?cesses?she starred in tele?vi?sion shows like Moe?sha, The Game, and Danc?ing with the Stars, be?came the face of main?stream brands like Cov?er?Girl, DKNY, and Can?die?s, and even had her own Bar?bie doll. (I can?not re?mem?ber ex?actly how old I was when I was given this doll, but I still have it sit?ting on the dresser in the bed?room of my child?hood home.) Brandy?s music has earned her a Grammy Award, three Amer?i?can Music Awards, and seven Bill?board Music Awards. (?The Boy Is Mine? is a for?ever fa?vorite.) As far as phil?an?thropic en?deav?ors are con?cerned, Brandy cre?ated the Nor?wood Kids Foun?da?tion with her brother Ray J in 1996, be?came the first in?ter?na?tional spokesper?son for youth for UNICEF in 1999, and was named hon?orary co-chair?man of the Un?stop?pable Foun?da?tion in 2014. Brandy man?aged to do it all, and she did so, while wear?ing her sig?na?ture hair?style: box braids.

?At the end of the day, I?m proud to be black, I?m proud to be a woman, I?m proud to have ac?cess to the magic that is God,? says Brandy. ?It?s big?ger than that, though. It?s about ex?pres?sion, it?s about be?liefs, it?s about faith, it?s about work ethic, and it?s about see?ing your?self where you want to be and re?al?iz?ing that where you want to be is re?ally where you re?ally are. It?s hav?ing the faith to be pa?tient with the process. We all have ac?cess to that. It?s that faith that can take us any?where that we need to go or where we want to go.?

In 2015, Brandy made her Broad?way debut as Roxie Hart in ?Chicago.? Last month, she broke her si?lence by an?nounc?ing her re?turn to music with the re?lease of ?Beg?gin & Pleadin.? Nat?u?rally, more music is on the way to fol?low up the sin?gle, but that?s not all! Brandy re?cently wrapped up pro?duc?tion for the first sea?son of her new sit?com Zoe Ever After on BET. All of this at age 37, while rais?ing her teenage daugh?ter, Sy?rai, who she ab?solutely adores.

Read more about the legacy that Brandy con?tin?ues to build and ob?serve how her per?spec?tive has changed through the years in the in?ter?view, below. We couldn?t think of a more mag?i?cal way to close the Black Girl Power... The Fu?ture Is Bright se?ries.


You paved the way for so many black women in the en?ter?tain?ment in?dus?try by break?ing down bar?ri?ers that were set in music, tele?vi?sion, the?ater, and film. How did you man?age to ma?neu?ver every?thing si?mul?ta?ne?ously? What was it like to go through that dur?ing the ?90s?
Well, with a lot of the things that I did, I would never have dreamed of doing. All I re?ally wanted to do was be a singer, and I wanted to share my music all over the world. I wanted to do every?thing that Whit?ney Hous?ton did. It started from there. I was just blessed with every?thing else that came with it. I think that I had a spirit of being open and doing every?thing I could to dis?cover dif?fer?ent parts of my?self, and I was open to it. At that age, I think I was fear?less in a way. I wasn?t afraid to try new things, you know? I wanted to make my music reach every?one, every?one that I could reach. So I did what I could to get the reach, and I was blessed with op?por?tu?ni?ties like Moe?sha and Thea. Being side by side with Whit?ney Hous?ton, being the first black princess, and work?ing with Diana Ross? Just striv?ing. I just had a fear?less at?ti?tude, and that?s how more things started to come to me that I never dreamt of hav?ing when I was a lit?tle baby girl.

You have ac?com?plished so much through?out your ca?reer. Was there a spe?cific mo?ment when you felt like you had de?fied the odds?
I think when I look back now, in hind?sight, I see things like that. When I look back, I see a lot of the things that I was able to do and a lot of the things that I was able to ac?com?plish with braids in my hair. Some?thing as defin?ing as that, I can look back now and re?ally ap?pre?ci?ate that, and be grate?ful for those ex?pe?ri?ences. But while it was hap?pen?ing, I didn?t re?ally know what was hap?pen?ing. When you?re in some?thing, you don?t re?ally know who you are at that age. You?re just kind of going with the flow, and you?re buy?ing into what every?one else is telling you that you are and [what] you should do. I don?t think you re?ally see what?s re?ally hap?pen?ing. So, when I look back now, it?s like ?Oh my god, I re?ally did a lot.? I have a lot now to share with my daugh?ter. I am now a pos?si?bil?ity in her life; if you do your thing, those things hap?pen, no mat?ter what color you are.

Can you share any of the de?tails about the new ma?te?r?ial that you have been work?ing on? Is there an album on the way?
I?m re?ally proud of the new sin?gle. It has def?i?nitely sparked what I call a move?ment, a jump into my ca?reer as an artist and just as a per?son. Every?thing there is about my?self; I?m re?ally sit?ting in it and liv?ing in it. This song and this record was so much of where I was at a point, and being brave enough to sing about it. And then, on the artist track, just going for?ward, and doing some?thing new and com?pletely out of the box. I?m re?ally ex?cited about the new sound and the new wave of who I am, and I?m just work?ing at putting out more music. I?m grate?ful to per?form, grate?ful to act, and do other things, but my heart and my soul is into my music right now. It?s ther?apy for me.

After I fin?ish this phase in my life, in terms of the move?ment of music, I def?i?nitely want to go on tour. For me, this is the most per?sonal vol?ume of music that I?m doing. I?m a com?pletely dif?fer?ent artist than I was two years ago. It?s got to tap into some?thing dif?fer?ent. We?ve been kind of feel?ing I could take that on the road. There are a lot of things that I don?t re?ally want to get into de?tail about be?cause I?ve done that be?fore in the past, and some?how things didn?t go the way I said it. But I?m re?ally here, I?m not going any?where, and I?m re?ally work?ing on every?thing that I?m pas?sion?ate about, which is re?ally my music. It?s all hap?pen?ing at the right time.


Your daugh?ter must be in awe of you. Does she think she has the coolest mom?
When she ex?presses her ad?mi?ra?tion for me, as a per?son and as an artist, her opin?ion and her thoughts about me re?ally mat?ter to me. When she?s ex?press?ing how she feels about me, it feels bet?ter than any?thing. When I had the whole doll phase, it was an?other mo?ment when I didn?t re?ally ap?pre?ci?ate it or truly know what was hap?pen?ing. And then the doll comes and looks ex?actly like me?it felt like a quick mo?ment that went by. But when I look back it?s like, ?Wow, okay, you didn?t have any doll.? Now, my daugh?ter has a doll. You look at that and go, ?Woah.? At the same time, as a mom, you see the other side of me. Like, is this some?one else? It?s so strange, but it?s beau?ti?ful to look back at the end and ap?pre?ci?ate every?thing. Just to hear peo?ple say it and show ap?pre?ci?a?tion, it?s re?ally a good feel?ing.

Given every?thing that you?ve been through over the years, what per?sonal or pro?fes?sional ad?vice would you give to your younger self now?
It?s a hard one be?cause I would say a lot. But to make it an over?ar?ch?ing el?e?ment for my younger self: every?thing is going to be okay. Being your?self is enough. It?s enough. I went through a phase where I felt like I needed to be some?thing else out?side of me, in order to be suc?cess?ful, and those times were like, long moods. I would just tell my younger self, and I would tell my young adult self, too. Every?thing about you is per?fect just the way you are, even in the im?per?fec?tion, even that?s per?fect. So chill.

What does ?black girl magic? mean to you?
I?m so proud to be black and I?m proud to be a woman. But to re?ally have the magic, you have to have the faith in order to ac?ti?vate the magic. That?s some?thing we all have, but if we don?t know that we have it, it?s al?most like not hav?ing it. That?s it. You know it, and you got it, you know? That?s how I can sum it up, but it?s so much more. I wish I could find bet?ter words to re?ally ex?press that.

https://www.nylon.com/articles/brandy-norwood-interview?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article-page

[RekeRig]

Ack!!!!!!

After I fin?ish this phase in my life, in terms of the move?ment of music, I def?i?nitely want to go on tour. For me, this is the most per?sonal vol?ume of music that I?m doing. I?m a com?pletely dif?fer?ent artist than I was two years ago. It?s got to tap into some?thing dif?fer?ent. We?ve been kind of feel?ing I could take that on the road. There are a lot of things that I don?t re?ally want to get into de?tail about be?cause I?ve done that be?fore in the past, and some?how things didn?t go the way I said it. But I?m re?ally here, I?m not going any?where, and I?m re?ally work?ing on every?thing that I?m pas?sion?ate about, which is re?ally my music. It?s all hap?pen?ing at the right time.

[RekeRig]

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Cuz



Some of her answers have just been so ...  DIFFERENT omg

[SouravMay]

these pointless ass interviews...

Bran sis, what gives... Gives us concrete info about music.

We waited through Chicago, an entire season of Zoe Ever After, an EP that did not happen...

[Cuban0]

 

[KING BENTLEY.]

Brandy girl hush

give us the damn music and stop talking, I'm getting uninterested by hype again 

[RekeRig]

She JUST said she doesn't wanna do much talking like she did in the past, and shit not come to fruition. She'll just slay us with the new sound

She has to do interviews are y'all ok

[RekeRig]

there's always an issue sddddd relax luvs

[RekeRig]

I'm glad she ain't sayin shit about who she's working with or ANY of that

People did too much and hyped up too much during TwoEleven. This feels
different

[KING BENTLEY.]

I'm glad she ain't sayin shit about who she's working with or ANY of that

People did too much and hyped up too much during TwoEleven. This feels
different

s

you're right tho

it may also be the influx of threads about her whereabout and goings on too that made me FEEL like she was just gushing and hyping

some of the mess posted isn't official interviews

[Monika]

I'm glad she's moving in silence. We don't know what's she's up to.

"Ok, let me drop this here!"

"There you go babies!"

[JRocka]

Ack!!!!!!

After I fin?ish this phase in my life, in terms of the move?ment of music, I def?i?nitely want to go on tour. For me, this is the most per?sonal vol?ume of music that I?m doing. I?m a com?pletely dif?fer?ent artist than I was two years ago. It?s got to tap into some?thing dif?fer?ent. We?ve been kind of feel?ing I could take that on the road. There are a lot of things that I don?t re?ally want to get into de?tail about be?cause I?ve done that be?fore in the past, and some?how things didn?t go the way I said it. But I?m re?ally here, I?m not going any?where, and I?m re?ally work?ing on every?thing that I?m pas?sion?ate about, which is re?ally my music. It?s all hap?pen?ing at the right time.

yassssss 

[LOONA.]

I think this album is gonna be really aggressive. I love it.   

[RekeRig]

I'm glad she ain't sayin shit about who she's working with or ANY of that

People did too much and hyped up too much during TwoEleven. This feels
different

s

you're right tho

it may also be the influx of threads about her whereabout and goings on too that made me FEEL like she was just gushing and hyping

some of the mess posted isn't official interviews

!!!! She's really doing her best to stfu

Hasn't said much of anything, and isn't revealing certain producers

[Young]

?At the end of the day, I?m proud to be black, I?m proud to be a woman, I?m proud to have ac?cess to the magic that is God,? says Brandy. ?It?s big?ger than that, though. It?s about ex?pres?sion, it?s about be?liefs, it?s about faith, it?s about work ethic, and it?s about see?ing your?self where you want to be and re?al?iz?ing that where you want to be is re?ally where you re?ally are. It?s hav?ing the faith to be pa?tient with the process. We all have ac?cess to that. It?s that faith that can take us any?where that we need to go or where we want to go.?


bitch bitch BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ack!!!!!!!!!!

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