14 Deep Brandy Album Cuts

Illustration INVA COTA
January 08, 2013



In a string of nine tweets this past Saturday, Solange wrote that R&B has long been experimental, and expressed frustration at music critics for, "acting like it just popped off last year." She suggested a familiarity with Brandy as a pre-requisite for writing about R&B:


Some of these music blogs could actually benefit from hiring people who REALLY understand the culture of R&B to write about R&B. Like you really should know about deep Brandy album cuts before you are giving a "grade" or a "score" to any R&B artists.

Following Solange's tweets, Brandy fans shared their pet tracks using the hashtag #DeepBrandyAlbumCuts. Whether or not an extensive knowledge of Brandy's back-catalog is really key to thoughtful writing about R&B, her albums are a pleasure to revisit, marked by incomparable singing and well-chosen production (from Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Kanye West, Sean Garrett and more). Here are 14 favorites, spanning Brandy's five studio albums. For more on her two-decade career, check out this Staff Selects playlist and our 2012 interview with Brandy about her album Two Eleven.

"Like This" Full Moon (Atlantic 2002)

Prod. by Rodney Jerkins



"All In Me" Full Moon (Atlantic 2002)

Prod. by Rodney Jerkins



"Come a Little Closer" Full Moon (Atlantic 2002)

Prod. by Rodney Jerkins, Stuart Brawley and Jason Derlatka



Brandy f. T.I., "Where You Want to Be" Afrodisiac (Atlantic 2004)

Prod. by Kanye West


"I Tried" Afrodisiac (Atlantic 2004)

Prod. by Timbaland



Kanye West f. Brandy, "Bring Me Down" Late Registration (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam 2005)

Prod. by Kanye West, Jon Brion


"Hardly Breathing" Two Eleven (RCA 2012)

Prod. by Rico Love and Medor



"Camouflage" Human (Atlantic 2008)

Prod. by Rodney Jerkins and D'Mile



"Slower" Two Eleven (RCA 2012)

Prod. by Switch



"Love is On My Side" Brandy (Atlantic 1994)

Written by Robin Thicke, Prod. by Damon Thomas



"When You Touch Me" Full Moon (Atlantic 2002)

Prod. by Rodney Jerkins, Big Bert



"How I Feel" Afrodisiac (Atlantic 2004)

Prod. by Walter "DJ Walt" Millsap III



"Put That on Everything" Never Say Never (Atlantic 1998)

Prod by Rodney Jerkins and Fred Jerkins III



"Almost Doesn't Count" Never Say Never (Atlantic 1998)

Prod. by Guy Roche and Fred Jerkins III

(Two of these aren’t actually ‘deep cuts’: “Almost Doesn’t Count” was released as Never Say Never’s fourth single in 1999; Kanye West’s “Bring Me Down” is not from a Brandy album.)

14 Deep Brandy Album Cuts