IT’S been more than four years since Brandy Norwood quietly slipped out of the pop music spotlight, but that doesn’t mean the new disc from the R&B diva qualifies as her comeback album.
Instead, “Human” (out today) is “a reintroduction to who I am now and the music I’ve created in the past year,” says the 29-year-old singer.
In case you’ve forgotten who she was before, Brandy made a splash with her 1994 quadruple-platinum self-titled debut disc. This quickly led to a five-year stint starring in the UPN sitcom “Moesha” and some feature film roles, as well as a trio of well-received albums. Along the way, she also gave birth to her now 6-year-old daughter, Sy’rai.
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After a decade in the public eye, Brandy decided to take an extended breather. “I just felt like I’d been doing it since I was 15, and the time that I took off was very needed,” Brandy says. “I got to know me as myself – not me as an artist, but the personal side of who I am, and I got a chance to spend a lot of time with my daughter and connect back with my purpose. I’m not here just for fame and fortune, I’m here for a reason, and I want to be connected to that reason.”
Judging from the lyrics on “Human,” Brandy’s purpose is to remind others to stay true to themselves. That’s why, she says, she recorded a spoken introduction for her album, because “people need to understand that it’s OK to be who you are.”
“I think we forget that all the time. The whole journey of life is discovering who you are and being more of who you are everyday,” she says.
Considering her experience with pretending to be someone else – as in married to the father of her child on an MTV series so she could be a good role model – Brandy is practically an authority on the subject. It’s one she says she “comes to terms with every day” because it’s an “ongoing process.”
During her self-imposed break, Brandy wrote in her journal every day, an activity that was new for her.
“That’s something that I found helpful in my life because I got a chance to know my inner voice and keep it all the way real with myself,” she says, which made it easier to draw from her own life while working on her new album.
“All of my albums have been personal for me,” she says. “But there have been times where I’ve sang songs that weren’t necessarily about me. On ‘Human,’ everything that I’m singing about I’ve actually experienced. It’s me and I wanted to put me out there.”
That’s why Brandy didn’t hold back when singing about her relationship with love, overcoming obstacles and a wide range of emotions including sadness and confidence.
“It’s a beautiful reflection of my life and what I’ve seen other people go through,” she says. “The whole theme of the album is just being a human being. I’m just like you. I’m not different, I’m just on TV or whatever, but at the end of the day, we have so much in common.”