From the premier issue of XXL's new Hip-Hop Soul magazine:

The tune is bleak. Slow. Deep bass. Coldplay sample. Its first two bars could easily double as an intro to a suicide note. "I'm standing on the edge/Wondering if it's all that important to me..." Brandy Norwood titled it "Should I Stay." Exhale. The song isn't a cry for psychiatric assistance. Rather, it's a vent-fest intended to inform the masses that she pondered retirement-she contemplated making Full Moon her swan song.

"There was a time when I really didn't want to be in the game no more," says the 24-year-old mother of one. Brandy pauses. It's not for effect; unlike most, she thinks before she opens her trap. Thoughts gathered, she concludes, "Because the game is phony."

Brandy has always known who she was supposed to be. But she never knew who she really was. So, she admits, she was just as plastic as the game she grew to despise. Presumably this is why several cuts on her untitled fourth LP, recorded at Miami's minimalist Hit Factory, stick closely to the rebirth-of-a-superstar theme. Tinkering with her identity and backdrops (Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley controls the boards this go-round), it becomes apparent that Ms. Norwood has morphed into a woman with issues that extend far beyond having catfights over indecisive boys. An angel in disguise she was.

In five years someone asks if you consider Never Say Never to be a flawless R&B album. What is your response?

Definitely. Flawless is an opinion, but yeah. You can listen to that joint right now. It's crazy.

Why throw away the chemistry born on that LP between you and Rodney Jerkins by doing this album with Timbaland?

I wasn't able to be the best that I could be on Darkchild's stuff, because there was so much going on with the track. Not to say that the tracks wasn't dope or that I don't appreciate the success we had, but at the same time, I never felt like I was being the best artist that I could [be]. Everything is all about Rodney, and I understand that, because he's talented and he's a genius, but I wanted to shine as well.

But Timbaland's tracks are equally notorious for stealing the show.

With Timbaland, I'm able to experiment and do things I never thought I could do with my voice. Like I'm rapping a little on the record. Talking a lot of crap. I was also able to change the tones in my voice to make it fit the mood.

Usher has publicly complained about the state of R&B. You also have some issues with the current state of the music, correct?

It's more about the look of it now. If you have a hot video and you're shaking your *** and you have your tummy all out, you're good. But if you got the shaking-your-*** , flat tummy and the music, imagine how much bigger you could be.

Songs like "Focus" are very specific to your recent experiences. Are you doing a lot more writing on this album?

I'm not really as confident in my writing as I wanna be. It's a fear of being too deep, where people won't understand. I look at things very deeply, and I don't think it's surface enough for people to understand. I would get too complicated and come up with big words that I don't even understand.

"Focus" touches on how you were feeling after your divorce. Talk about that song.

Anyone who has been in a long relationship-deep like marriage, deep like six years, deep like a level where you're not with anyone else, and you break up-when you see that person, you gonna be like, "Is it over? Did we make a mistake?" The lyric is, "Don't wanna lose focus, but it's bound to leave every time you come running into me. What we used to be shouldn't even matter to me." But [the song] didn't say it doesn't matter, because when you see [them], it's like, I'm trippin'.

Why have you refrained from revealing the real Brandy?

I've always had my guard up. I never wanted people to know who I really am. That's my way of protecting myself. Now I'm not afraid of me. Before I've always been afraid of me. That's why I didn't want to let anybody see me. I didn't know me. Now that I'm getting to know the real me, I'm not ashamed to say how I feel.

It's hard to feel artists when they don't put themselves into a recording. Brandy's last joint really didn't appeal to me. And I don't tend to throw on the other 2 albums.

Monica, on the other hand... LOVED her single from this year that Missy wrote, and her album talked about some deeper things like losing a (boy?)friend to suicide. As for old material, I was listening to "The First Night" this week.

Good to see Brandy isn't goin' out without a fight! Timbaland is a down-to-earth cat that can bring the true Brandy out.

i like brandy. hope she's doing ok.
hope this record will bring her back into the limelight.

i just heard usher's new song and for someone who talked so much about current r&b he sure enough made a song that sounds just like every other current radio song.

iwishyouheaven said:

iwishyouheaven said:

Yes and it sucks.

iwishyouheaven said:

Agreed.Several months ago,he was dissing today's R&B music (rightfully so) but sadly,it looks like he doesn't really have anything new and interesting to offer.