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Brandy interview
Tuesday 2nd October 2012 | Osh
The R&B Singer, whose upcoming album Two Eleven due out 16th October, talks about how it feels to get back on track.
So you're trending on Twitter right now, that must be great, are you feeling good?
It’s an amazing feeling, because I’d just released my second single called ‘Wildest Dreams’ and the response on that song has been amazing, so to trend. I'm screaming, I'm calling my manager, I'm calling my friends like “oh my God this is crazy!” I always get excited when I trend on Twitter. When you're trending on Twitter it feels like you're doing something right. (laughs)
You’ve been off for like four years now, it must feel good to come straight back in at the top.
It just feels different this time, it feels like 10 years ago and it feels like when I first started. That’s how big it feels. I just feel like something great is happening and the fans have always been down for me, even when I was down and out, and I didn't believe in myself. I had a group of people out there that did believe in me, and it’s just a great time for us. They're so supportive, I'm just excited to move forward in my music and really give the fans what they’ve been waiting for.
Ok, so I've been looking into your life and I see that you've been really interacting a lot with your fans, you treat them so well, you call them your stars, it’s amazing. How is that going? Why do you interact with them so much?
I love them, they're like my babies. They're like my extended family. So thank God for Twitter and Facebook and all of these ways that I can communicate with them because they do have a voice, and they want the best for me and I try to include their opinions and their wants in what I do, because they’re the reason I'm able to do what I love on a large scale, so I've got to keep them happy, I’ve got to keep them happy.
So Brandy I've got a question for you. Why do they call you Gandhi?
They feel like the real Gandhi is such a powerful man, he was able to be so powerful and stay so humble. So they call me Gandhi, because they feel like I have this influence in music. Many artists always pay homage to me and say nice things about me, and they know that I'm a humble person and I'm down to earth. It’s so weird talking about myself and what it means, but I'm just telling you what was told to me. It’s weird, I didn't know anyone would ever pick that up or anyone would ever ask me that, you have really done your research and it’s not Wikipedia, you’ve tapped into other situations.
Now, you’ve done some classic albums Brandy, have you found ‘yourself’ musically now, do you know exactly where you are musically?
I really feel like I’ve found my connection with music again. It took me a couple albums to do that. Once I realised what my responsibility was, which is to really try and help bring RnB back, it was easy. It was easy to get in the studio and figure out that sound, because I had a purpose, I had an idea to guide me. And I found it with Sean Garrett and Bangladesh and Frank Ocean and Jim Johnson and The Bizness, a great group of people to help that idea come into fruition.
Everyone you want to work with you get. You wanted to work with Frank Ocean and it happened, amazing.
Oh my God, yeah, the interesting thing about Frank Ocean, is that I knew him before he was Frank Ocean and I would tell him all the time that he was special and he would always look at me like I was crazy. I would tell him: “dude you're going to be one of the biggest stars in the world, you're going to have that impact on the world”. He just thought I was crazy.
So you were an inspiration to him?
He’s going to have to tell you if I'm an inspiration, but I know for a fact that I saw Frank Ocean before Frank Ocean saw Frank Ocean, I saw it and I told him and I think just being a big sister to him and a friend. I think he definitely heard those words and he became everything that he is today, and it’s just the beginning. There are people I dream of working with, like Sade, I think she is an incredible instrument; or Enya, she puts me in a trance when I hear her music. Also with Beyonce, even if I don't sing with her, I just want to see her in the studio, I just want to witness what that is like, how does Beyonce work. Miguel is amazing that would be a great collaboration too, so four people right now.
You've worked with so many people it's absolutely unbelievable, everything you touch seems to turn to gold, do u have that same feeling where you have that energy running through you and everything you touch works.
Well honestly I’ve had a lot of ups and downs so not everything, but I definitely feel like I'm on the right path right now, I do feel like there is a higher power guiding this project and guiding me. I haven't been this happy in a long time, and I feel like I'm living out my purpose and it’s a build, everything is taking its own pace and its own time, and I just want to trust it, I want to be thankful for every moment in my life and just be appreciative. I don't ever remember taking the time to just say thank you and I'm so excited and appreciative of everything, every single step that I take. Even the conversation I'm having with you, I've never answered some of the questions that you’ve asked me today, that's a blessing, so this is great, I know its corny but I just am, sorry.
You started Moesha at a very young age and you worked with so many people, like Big Pun, Dr Dre, Master P. It must have been so much fun for you, have you ever had anything top that fun, anything that has been as fun as it was back then.
I’m starting to, it’s going to take a lot to top the fun that I had on Moesha, I did work with a lot of great people and I kind of grew up through the eyes of Moesha, through that character. The people on the show that I got a chance to work with were really talented so it was a lot of fun, it’s going to take a lot to top that. I've been having a great time on the tv show The Game, it’s a tv show on BET that people just love and I've been having a great time playing a feisty character called Chardonnay on that show, I've been having a lot of fun with that so we’ll see.
Is your daughter going to follow in your footsteps?
Yes! Fortunately and unfortunately.
I'm sure she’s going to be so lucky with you behind her, she’s going to go all the way because she’s got your support she’s going to be amazing.
I'm the perfect teacher for her, I just want her to have a normal life, I just don't want her to have to grow up in the public eye, I want her to grow up in private and when she discovers more of who she is because we never really know fully who we are because we keep discovering every day. But when she discovers a lot about herself then I think she'll be ready for the business.
